LAKEPORT, Calif. – A man who was convicted of shooting at two California Highway Patrol officers in October of 2013 has been found mentally competent.
At the end of a brief hearing on Aug. 28, Judge Andrew Blum ruled that 41-year-old William Edward Steele of Hopland has no mental competence issues.
Steele is facing 154 years in prison after a jury convicted him in April of the attempted murder of CHP Officers Shane Roach and Glen Thomas, as Lake County News has reported.
The jury also convicted Steele of assault with a deadly weapon, discharging a firearm from a vehicle, being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, violating a restraining order by possessing a gun, shooting at an inhabited car, reckless evading, evading a peace officer causing death or serious injury, involuntary manslaughter, unlawful imprisonment and more than 30 special allegations relating primarily to firearm use as well as causing great bodily injury.
He shot at the officers during an early-morning traffic stop in the area of Highway 29 and Cruickshank Drive in Kelseyville.
At the time he also had two other people with him in the Chevy Tahoe he was driving. One of them, Jeremy John, jumped from the vehicle and later died of his injuries, which was the cause of the involuntary manslaughter charge.
Steele originally had been scheduled for sentencing in May, but a few weeks ahead of that he raised doubts as to his own mental competence, which temporarily suspended the criminal proceedings, according to Senior Deputy District Attorney Art Grothe.
Steele had sought a jury trial on his mental competence, however a bench trial was conducted on Aug. 28 before Judge Blum, Grothe said.
Grothe said he presented reports from two psychiatrists saying Steele was mentally competent, and Steele's attorney, Tom Quinn, also provided a report from a third doctor that offered the same conclusion.
Judge Blum read the reports and after about five minutes concluded Steele was competent, Grothe said.
Quinn said he requested a trial transcript in order to file a new trial motion in the case, as he wasn't the attorney at the time of trial.
The court reporter said she would need six weeks to prepare the transcript, according to Grothe.
If Quinn goes forward with preparing a new trial motion, Grothe said that could delay the case further.
Grothe said the court is “not even close” to setting a sentencing date for Steele at this point.
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