Samuel Turner, the man found insane in the 2007 slaying of Elizabeth Gomez, is scheduled for a review hearing this week at the San Benito County Courthouse.
Two years ago, Turner was committed to a state mental health facility after a jury found him not guilty by reason of insanity. His review hearing is set for 11:30 a.m. Thursday in room 101 at the San Benito County Courthouse.
Turner was accused of killing Gomez in March 2007. Gomez was found stabbed and strangled to death inside her apartment bedroom when police arrived, and Turner was found inside the apartment.
Turner, age 25 at the time and a resident of San Jose, was inside the apartment when they arrived, authorities said, and had suffered from a self-inflicted knife wound to the scrotum.
The case was postponed for years because of Turner’s deteriorating mental health and his lack of mental competency for trial. During the court process, Turner faced allegations of torturing Gomez.
In August 2008, Turner was ordered to take his first psychiatric test. More than two years later, he changed his plea to not guilty for reasons of insanity. After the change, prosecutors and the defendant’s attorney, public defender Harry Damkar, moved forward with a mental health evaluation and a recommendation of treatment. Turner was committed to a state mental health facility based on the mental health reports and an agreement from the district attorney’s office and the defendant.
His prospective release is dependent on his mental health. District Attorney Candice Hooper could not be reached immediately regarding Thursday’s hearing.
Turner was sentenced to the mental health facility in January 2011 before members of the victim’s family – including Hollister City Councilman Victor Gomez, the victim’s brother.
If Turner were found guilty in criminal court he would have faced a sentencing of 25 years to life in prison. When Turner’s stay in the mental health facility is reviewed, Gomez’s family members will be allowed to be present along with the district attorney’s office.
Also facing a review hearing this week is Breanna Stewart, the local woman convicted of vehicular manslaughter in the death of Ryan McFall.
A judge in September sentenced Breanna C. Stewart, the driver in the January 2012 car crash on Union Road that killed the 23-year-old McFall, to two years in state prison.
Stewart, 20, pleaded no contest in August to the vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated charge against her in connection with the Jan. 14 car wreck at Union Road and San Benito streets. Judge Steven Sanders handed down the two-year prison sentence, which was the mid-term penalty for such a vehicular manslaughter conviction.
Her review hearing is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Thursday in room 101 at the courthouse.
The accident occurred around 3 a.m. Jan. 14, 2012, as the two were returning to Hollister from Tres Pinos. The car, a 2009 Hyundai Sonata, was westbound on Union Road when Stewart lost control and crashed into a light pole at the intersection of San Benito Street, according to the California Highway Patrol, which investigated the case.
The car was severely damaged on the front-right side and all along the right side. McFall, a 2006 graduate of San Benito High School, was dead before responders arrived.
The CHP arrested Stewart at the scene – she was released on bail hours later – and later alleged she had a blood-alcohol level over the legal limit of 0.08 percent. Stewart accepted the no contest plea – which serves the same purpose as a guilty plea when it comes to a sentence – at a preliminary hearing.
She was committed to authorities for incarceration after her sentence hearing in September and had one day credited for time served.
McFall was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. Before his death he had moved to Sacramento, where he was studying electrical engineering at American River College.
