BROTHER'S KILLER SENT TO PATTON HERNANDEZ WAS FOUND TO BE LEGALLY INSANE.Byline: Karen Maeshiro Staff Writer LANCASTER - A man found legally insane when he stabbed his older brother to death after breaking into his Pearblossom home has been sentenced to 15 years to life at a state mental hospital. Edward Hernandez, 27, was found by a judge who heard the case without a jury to be not guilty by reason of insanity not guilty by reason of insanity n. plea in court of a person charged with a crime who admits the criminal act, but whose attorney claims he/she was so mentally disturbed at the time of the crime that he/she lacked the capacity to have intended to commit a crime. in the Feb. 24 slaying of 36-year-old Manuel Hernandez. The defendant suffers from schizophrenia and delusions, his attorney said. ``There was no dispute over the fact that he was insane,'' said Hernandez's attorney, Deputy Public Defender public defender, governmental official who represents indigent persons accused of crime. U.S. Supreme Court decisions expanding the right to counsel to pretrial proceedings and holding that a person cannot be sentenced to even one day in jail unless a lawyer was Patricia Hutton-Payton. Hernandez will be sent to Patton State Hospital History Patton State Hospital is located located in San Bernardino county, California. First opened in 1893, it was renamed Patton State Hospital after Harry Patton in 1927. Patton opened in 1893, as a state run, public sector forensic hospital. in San Bernardino San Bernardino, city, United States San Bernardino (săn bûr'nədē`nō), city (1990 pop. 164,164), seat of San Bernardino co., S Calif., at the foot of the San Bernardino Mts.; inc. 1854. County. If at some point hospital officials find that Hernandez is no longer insane and no longer a danger to himself or anyone else, a court hearing would be held to determine whether that's the case, Hutton-Payton said. Edward Hernandez had been released from the Acton Rehabilitation Center the night before he killed his brother, officials said. Rehabilitation center officials sent him to a mental health facility in the San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. for a 72-hour observation. Edward Hernandez had a history of substance abuse and was the subject of a restraining order restraining order: see injunction. filed against him by his family, detectives said. Edward Hernandez before dawn broke into the Avenue W home where his mother, aunt and brother lived, detectives said. Manuel Hernandez confronted him, and the brothers argued, detectives said. The argument escalated into a fight in which Manuel was stabbed multiple times, officials said. Edward Hernandez fled the home. Deputies found him, scratched and cut, about two hours later. Karen Maeshiro, (661) 267-5744 karen.maeshiro(at)dailynews.com |
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