| A Solano County
Superior Court judge has ordered a suspect in a rural murder
admitted to Napa State Hospital within the next 30 days for
evaluation and care.
Superior Court Judge Dwight C. Ely on Tuesday ordered
29-year-old murder defendant Roberto Estrada Olvera - who was
found mentally incompetent for court proceedings two months
ago - housed at the Napa mental facility.
Olvera originally was ordered admitted to Napa State
Hospital in December after Judge R. Michael Smith ruled that
he was not competent to participate in court and should be
placed in the hospital's trial competency program.
As of Tuesday, however, Olvera remained at Solano County
Jail in Fairfield, apparently the result of an ongoing backlog
for admission to state mental hospitals.
Criminal proceedings against Olvera remain suspended.
Olvera was arrested a year ago following the stabbing death
of 27-year-old Luis Alfonso Vargas at a rural Solano County
ranch near Winters. Vargas reportedly died as a result of
multiple stab wounds to the chest and abdomen.
According to the Solano County Sheriff's Office, emergency
dispatchers
received word of the attack
the evening of Feb. 21, 2005, when a woman telephoned to
report that there had been a stabbing at a migrant worker
housing area on Putah Creek Road near Campbell Road.
The victim subsequently was found dead by sheriff's
deputies outside a barn that had been converted for migrant
housing use on the Rancho Martinez property.
Deputies said Olvera fled after the knife attack and later
was seen wandering through downtown Winters, where he was
detained by Yolo County lawmen. Olvera later was turned over
to Solano County authorities.
Brian Hamlin can be reached at courts@thereporter.com.
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