MODESTO, Calif. (AP) - The Latest on the trial against a man charged with killing a California police officer (all times local):
12:00 p.m.
The attorney for a man in the U.S. illegally charged in the killing of a California police officer has asked a judge to seal a mental health evaluation report on his client because he says it could be incriminating.
Gustavo Perez Arriaga’s defense attorney, Stephen Foley, last month questioned his client’s mental fitness and asked for an evaluation.
Foley told the judge Thursday that he’s spent with his client since the Jan. 2 hearing and now believes Mendoza is mentally fit to stand trial.
The Modesto Bee reports Foley argued that the evaluation violated his client’s right to refuse to answer questions that could be incriminating.
The judge ordered them to return April 8.
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8:00 a.m.
A Mexican man in the U.S. illegally charged in the killing of a California police officer will return to court for the judge to hear the results of a mental health evaluation.
Stanislaus County District Attorney’s Office spokesman John Goold says Gustavo Perez Arriaga will return to court in Modesto Thursday.
Perez Arriaga was charged in the Dec. 26 shooting death of Cpl. Ronil Singh of the tiny Newman Police Department during a traffic stop.
In a hearing last month, Perez Arriaga’s attorney questioned his client’s mental competency, leading the court to delay the case until a mental health evaluation was completed.
Authorities say he was in the country illegally and was fleeing back to his native Mexico when he was arrested two days after Singh’s killing.
The case rekindled a debate over California’s sanctuary law that limits cooperation by local authorities with federal immigration authorities.
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