A man suspected of stabbing a biotech executive near the Westfield UTC was committed Dec. 3 to a state mental hospital after a judge declared he was mentally incompetent to stand trial for attempted murder.
The parents of Odie James Miller Jr., 21, were present Wednesday when San Diego Superior Court Judge Joseph Brannigan ordered Miller to Patton State Hospital. Brannigan also ordered that Miller take medication and that it should be given by force if Miller refuses to take it.
“Hopefully, he will be restored to competency,” said Brannigan after reading Miller’s mental evaluations. Criminal proceedings remain suspended against Miller, who will be returned to San Diego for trial if doctors and another judge find he has regained his competency.
Miller’s attorney, Amy Hoffman, said Odie Miller Sr., Miller’s father, wanted another judge’s order that banned contact with him set aside. Miller was on probation for assaulting his father in 2013, and she said the elder Miller has not been able to talk to his son since his Aug. 7 arrest.
Deputy District Attorney Geoff Allard said the order was there because Odie Miller Jr. “threatened to stab his family.” Allard argued to keep the order as it is.
Brannigan reviewed the other judge’s noncontact order because the father was considered a victim. He ruled the order must remain in effect even while his son is in the hospital and that the order did not permit telephone calls. Brannigan said he might reconsider the order once the son has been stabilized on anti-psychotic medication.
Miller is accused of repeatedly stabbing the biotech executive, 44, referred to in court records as Brian M., around 12:15 p.m. on August 6 in the vicinity of Renaissance Avenue and Towne Centre Drive. The attack occurred at random and without motive.