The mental health of two men charged in connection with two separate violent attacks — one for allegedly stabbing a deputy, the other for allegedly choking a jogger — were in court Friday, officials said.
The men appeared in San Fernando Superior Court for a mental health review and were told to return to court next month for further review.
Donald Chinchilla, 21, is charged with one count of deliberate, premeditated, attempted murder of a peace officer.
Colton Ford, 29, is charged with one count of attempted willful, deliberate and premeditated murder.
A 1368 hearing under the California Penal Code is scheduled to be reviewed in court for each suspect late next month — May 23 for Ford, May 30 for Chinchilla, Paul Eakes, spokesman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said.
Chinchilla was arrested Jan. 8 after deputies with the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station cordoned off a neighborhood one block north of the Jack in the Box restaurant where the stabbing occurred.
Chinchilla is accused of having approached his victim —a law enforcement officer who was not in uniform and whom has not been identified— asked the officer if he was a deputy, and then stabbed the officer once in the chest.
The wounded detective, identified only as a member of the Los Angeles County Sheriff Department’s Special Victims Bureau, was rushed to the hospital, treated and then later released.
Ford is accused of inflicting great bodily injury upon a victim 70 years of age or older.
He allegedly crossed paths with the victim in late September and allegedly grabbed her and began to strangle her until she became unconscious, Ricardo Santiago, spokesman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said in a news release issued last fall.
Section 1368 of the state’s penal code states: “If counsel informs the court that he or she believes the defendant is or may be mentally incompetent, the court shall order that the question of the defendant’s mental competence is to be determined in a hearing which is held pursuant to Sections 1368.1 and 1369.”
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