Stagg High School stabbing suspect ruled too incompetent to stand trial in San Joaquin County Jail

accused man murder of 15-year-old Stockton girl A San Joaquin County Superior Court judge said Monday that a person who was on the Stagg High School campus in 2022 was not competent to stand trial.

At the beginning of the almost hour-long hearing, Judge Patrick Smalling said the court had received a 180-day competency report regarding Anthony Gray.

Gray had previously appeared at hearings via Zoom while he was being held in a state hospital, but was present in court during the hearing and wore an orange jumpsuit.

As Smalling, prosecutors and Gray’s attorney discussed drugging his client and his driver’s license, the defendant occasionally nodded and gave the judge a thumbs-up.

“The report itself indicates that the conclusion of the State Hospital Department in Napa that Mr. Gray is still incompetent to stand trial is essential and that there is no significant likelihood that Mr. Gray will become competent to stand trial in the foreseeable future. said Smalling.

Smalling clarified that Gray’s maximum commitment period at the hospital will end in February 2025, but he is no longer a patient at the public hospital. He said that the hospital is obliged to notify the court of its findings in the report 90 days before the end of the commitment date.

Based on the doctors’ findings, Gray was transferred back to the San Joaquin County Jail and ordered to remain on involuntary medication to improve his competency.

But prosecutors in the case expressed concerns during the trial about the possibility that Gray might not receive appropriate medication in prison to regain his competency.

It’s unclear how long Gray will remain in the San Joaquin County Jail.

‘We have no say’: Stagg student Alycia Reynaga mourned by family, friends and the Stockton community

Accusations against Gray

Prosecutors say Gray, who was 52 when he was arrested, walked to the school campus on April 18, 2022, and He started stabbing Alycia Reynaga repeatedly with a knife.

The woman, who was taken to the hospital due to her injuries, died.

Gray was ultimately charged with murder and special circumstances of torture, as well as personal use of a firearm, causing bodily harm to a child, great bodily injury, and bringing a weapon onto school grounds.

The San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Office had said Gray was on parole before the alleged stabbing and carries an extensive criminal record from the Bay Area.

Before the alleged stabbing occurred, Gray was working as a quartermaster at Pepsi.

At his second trial in 2022, Gray told the judge that he wanted to plead guilty, but his lawyer Lois Keenan did not accept his client’s defense.

Keenan said Gray had a long history of mental illness, but his client refused to see a doctor.

At previous hearings Gray had been declared competent to stand trial, but the decision was later reversed and he was declared incompetent to stand trial.

At Monday’s hearing, the court also discussed steps to initiate conservatorship proceedings.

A defendant deemed incompetent to stand trial may be forced to take medication if the court makes one of two findings:

• The person poses a danger to others or the person lacks the capacity to make decisions about antipsychotic medication.

• If a person’s mental illness is left untreated, serious harm to their physical or mental health is a likely outcome.

In September, the California Department of State Hospitals requested an expedited hearing and a petition mandating involuntary treatment medication for Gray.

As a result of the hearing, it was determined that Gray would be involuntarily administered antipsychotic medication from September 9 to September 30.

Grand jury report: Stockton Unified disputes many findings regarding school safety

incompetent to stand trial

Last year, Gray was admitted to the Napa Department of State Hospitals and met with psychiatrists and medical doctors.

In the report, Gray’s diagnosis was listed as bipolar type schizoaffective disorder. Schizoaffective disorder is a chronic mental illness with symptoms of schizophrenia and mood disorders.

The report stated that some of the symptoms Gray experienced were delusions, beliefs, hallucinations, disorganized thought process, strange behavior, irritability and agitation.

Gray stated in an interview that he was at a Napa hospital because he was “unqualified to judge” and agreed with his diagnosis, according to a health expert quoted in the report. He also stated that he had heard voices and experienced mood swings before.

When referring to Gray’s legal proceedings and lawsuit, the report repeatedly states that he remains cautious and paranoid. But when asked what led to his arrest, Gray said he tried to make a deal with police to stop poisoning his food, stop taking money from his check and give him a gun to defend himself.

On December 22, 2022, Dr. John Chellsen said Gray said: “What happened was the police’s fault. “They were deducting money from my salary.”

However, the report stated that Gray could not explain why the police did this to him.

“If the police had said anything else, like sit down, I would have sat down instead of doing what I did,” Gray said.

Some of the statements made by Gray caused healthcare professionals to state that he was not authorized to judge.

Gray will return to court at 8.30am on December 3.

This article was first published on The Record: Stagg High School stabbing suspect ruled incompetent to stand trial