Criminal proceedings have been suspended against the man suspected of killing a Pacific Beach real estate agent after the defendant’s attorney told a judge he doubted his client was mentally competent to stand trial.
The agent, Jim Magot, 64, was shot to death Feb. 1 at a Lakeside condominium he was trying to sell for its owner, Michael Ray Jennison, 37, who is charged with murdering him. The slaying is puzzling because it occurred in Jennison’s own condominium, and for no apparent reason.
A judge is required to suspend criminal proceedings if a defense attorney suspects his or her client cannot understand court proceedings mentally.
Jennison, 37, will be interviewed in jail by a psychologist who will provide a report to a San Diego Superior Court judge for a hearing set for Aug. 31.
If the judge finds he is mentally competent to stand trial, a preliminary hearing date will be set. If not, a judge can commit the defendant to a state mental hospital for treatment. In such cases, many defendants are placed on psychotropic medications, and they regain their mental competency and are returned to court for trial.
Magot had worked at Willis Allen Real Estate in La Jolla for the past 12 years and served on the San Diego Zoning Board of Appeals for seven years. He was a past chairman of the Pacific Beach Planning Committee.
On July 23, Jennison was to have heard testimony in his preliminary after his case was assigned to El Cajon Superior Court Judge Charles Ervin for that purpose. Instead, attorney Brian White made the motion to have his client’s mental competency determined.
After the shooting, Jennison fled to Arizona, but he was arrested days later during a traffic stop in Globe, Ariz., in which law enforcement personnel found three handguns in his car. He was extradited back to San Diego, and remains in the George F. Bailey Detention Facility in lieu of $1 million bail. Jennison has pleaded not guilty.