Woman Is Ruled Incompetent in Hate-Crime Murder Trial

After reviewing psychiatrists’ reports, a judge Wednesday suspended the criminal case against Marie Elise West, the first person charged with a capital hate crime in Los Angeles County, and declared her mentally incompetent to stand trial.

The 35-year-old Hermosa Beach woman was charged with running down and killing restaurant worker Jesus Plascencia outside a Van Nuys bagel shop on Sept. 1, allegedly making anti-Latino slurs shortly afterward.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Michael S. Luros ordered that West be transferred to Patton State Hospital, a mental health facility in San Bernardino County for patients who have been charged with felonies.

Although prosecutors vowed they would continue to press the case against West when her sanity is restored, the defendant said she believed the charges were ludicrous because she had no control over what she did.

In an hourlong telephone interview, West said she doesn’t remember running over anyone, but that she felt horrible when she was told afterward that a 65-year-old man had died.

“I’m so sorry,� West said from a pay phone in the Twin Towers Correctional Facility in downtown Los Angeles. “I wish I could apologize to the people, but I don’t know them. I didn’t know what I was doing at all. . . . I have a lot of regrets for what happened.�

In court Wednesday, the judge said he based his ruling on reports from a defense psychiatrist and a prosecution psychiatrist, both of whom agreed that she was not competent to stand trial.

But Deputy Dist. Atty. Scott Millington said that if West is ever found fit for trial, she will be arraigned and the case will continue. “We’re definitely not dropping the charges,� he said.

Plascencia, a busboy, had just bought bagels when West allegedly ran over him repeatedly with her Volvo. She then parked her car, walked into the shop and bought a bagel, witnesses said.

Because witnesses told police they heard her express hatred toward Latinos, prosecutors filed first-degree murder charges under a section of California law that makes West eligible for the death penalty.

On the night before West allegedly ran over Plascencia, she was driving on the freeway looking for big trucks, she said.

“You know how you pull down your hand at the truckers? I was having fun getting truckers to honk,� West said.

West said she remembered little of what followed at about 4 a.m. “I just remember a light flashing at my eyes and they pulled me out. The next thing I know there were all these cops yelling at me.�

In court Wednesday, Plascencia’s family and a former supervisor said West should be held responsible regardless of her mental state.