A man who is charged with stabbing a Mission Beach man after saying voices told him to do it has entered an insanity plea and a June 23 trial date was set.
Charles Dean Clardy, 55, appeared Jan. 16 before San Diego Superior Court Judge Michael Groch, who appointed two psychologists to evaluate him in jail.
Clardy is accused of attempted murder and assaulting Ty Fickau, 45, by pouring gasoline on him in an April 11, 2019 incident inside Fickau’s apartment in the 700 block of Isthmus Court.
Fickau had stored his apartment key in a light fixture in the complex and noticed it was missing about a week before the attack, he said at the preliminary hearing.
Fickau testified Clardy told him “voices in my head told me to kill you” after the attack. Fickau suffered a collapsed lung after he was stabbed in the chest, neck, and back in the 8 p.m. incident.
Clardy was told in court that entering a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity could result in a lifetime commitment to a state mental hospital. If a jury finds he was sane at the time, he would be committed to a state prison term.
Groch told attorneys the doctors’ reports should be ready by April 24 so they can review it ahead of the trial date. Clardy is also charged with attempted arson and burglary. A police officer found three orange juice bottles that once contained gasoline that the defendant had carried with him.
Clardy remains in the central jail without bail.