After several days of testimony concerning the mental competency of a Santa Maria man accused of murdering his father and three others in a shooting rampage, Judge Edward Bullard said Tuesday afternoon that he cannot find Lee Leeds competent to stand trial at this time.
Bullard ordered Leeds sent back to Patton State Hospital, a mental-health treatment facility in San Bernadino County where he was housed for more than a year until March. Leeds was released from the hospital after mental health professionals there found him competent to stand trial. At that time, Leeds was returned to Santa Barbara County Jail.
The judge said that doctors at Patton should re-evaluate Leeds, and scheduled a hearing in the case for Sept. 23 in Bullard’s Santa Maria courtroom.
“If they find him competent, they should send him back. That’s the order,” Bullard said.
Before issuing his decision, Bullard said that he believed there was “no question” that Leeds was competent at the time Patton doctors found him so, but noted that they have not evaluated Leeds since before he was discharged from the hospital three months ago.
Leeds, 34, suffers from paranoid schizophrenia.
