A judge determined on April 8 that a man suspected of a fatal baseball bat attack on Rosecrans Street is mentally incompetent to understand court proceedings.
Christian Louis Ewing, 29, will be sent to a state psychiatric facility where he will be given medications to help him regain his mental competency.
Ewing is suspected of killing Gregory Freeman, 57, who died days later after being struck repeatedly with a baseball bat on Dec. 5, 2018. Deputy District Attorney Brian Erickson said Ewing’s DNA was found on the barrel of the bat found at Rosecrans Street near Pacific Highway.
Freeman died from head and facial injuries. Erickson said it is not known yet if the two men were acquainted with each other. Freeman was believed to be homeless.
A psychologist met with Ewing in jail and wrote a report to a San Diego Superior Court judge that said he wasn’t mentally competent to understand court proceedings.
Ewing was arrested Dec. 24 in the Midway District. Criminal proceedings remain suspended until he regains his mental competency.
Ewing was the same person who rushed the stage at Petco Park in 2015 when singer Taylor Swift was performing a concert. He wrestled with security before he was arrested and the concert continued on.
Ewing was found to be mentally incompetent in 2015 when he was charged with felony assault of a security guard who broke several ribs. He was sent to Patton State Hospital for treatment and was eventually found mentally competent.
Ewing pleaded guilty to assault in the Aug. 29, 2015 incident and sentenced to almost two years in custody with credits for time spent at Patton and in jail.
The prosecutor in the baseball bat case said someone called 911 from the Old Town Trolley station to report seeing a man beating another man with an umbrella, but the caller was some distance away.