A former nursing student accused of killing seven people – including a Guyanese woman – at a Christian college in Oakland last April was ruled mentally incompetent to stand trial, Reuters reported yesterday.
The ruling, by Alameda County Superior Court Judge Carrie Panetta, came after two doctors who evaluated the man, 44-year-old One Goh, found that he suffers from paranoid schizophrenia.
“The defendant is not competent to proceed,” Panetta said. “Proceedings shall be suspended.”
Reuters said that she ordered that Goh undergo an assessment to determine where he should be placed for treatment of his mental illness. She scheduled another hearing in the case for January 28.
Goh wore a red jail suit with his hands and feet shackled and sat with seven other defendants in a jury box. He appeared to stare aimlessly during the proceedings.
Reuters said if a judge later finds that Goh has regained his mental competency, he would be ordered to stand trial in the high-profile case.
Goh is charged with seven counts of murder and three counts of attempted murder in a shooting spree on April 2, 2012, at Oikos University, where he once attended nursing school. He has pleaded not guilty.
Guyanese, Judith Seymour, was among the seven persons killed.
A tribute to Seymour in the San Francisco Chronicle just after the shooting said that she had the healing touch.
“Her parents were both nurses in New York before moving back to their native Guyana, and Seymour had been a certified nursing assistant before spending much of her career as a senior tax analyst.
“But when she was laid off, and at age 53, Seymour, who lived in San Jose, went back to nursing and was looking forward to graduating from Oikos University in June and getting her license.
“She regularly commuted to the school in Oakland and sometimes to the state prison in Vacaville, where she had clinical training, said her partner of eight years, Timothy Brown, 55, a union representative.
”She was very excited, happy and proud” at completing her training in two months, Brown said, adding that nursing came naturally to Seymour, a leader of a tight-knit class at Oikos.
”Everyone who met her knew that she was down to earth, they loved her instantly, they could see her gentle, loving nature,” Brown said.
”She had a great bedside manner and she could establish a rapport with patients,” he said. “She was very tender. She had the touch.”
“Seymour was also proud of her two adult children, Camella and Brian, Brown said, and was looking forward to seeing her daughter earn her master’s degree in business management. Brian is attending community college in San Jose.