Doctors believe a man accused of murdering seven people in a shooting rampage at Oakland’s Oikos University in April 2012 is still mentally incompetent to stand trial, his lawyer told a judge today.
One Goh, 44, didn’t attend his brief hearing in Alameda County Superior Court in Oakland because he’s still being treated at Napa State Hospital, where he was sent earlier this year after a judge ruled on Jan. 7 that he’s not competent to stand trial and suspended the legal proceedings against him.
Judge Jon Rolefson ordered that Goh return to court on Dec. 9 for another update on his mental competency.
Goh, a Korean national who lived in Oakland, is charged with seven counts of murder, three counts of attempted murder for allegedly shooting three victims who survived, and 10 special-circumstance allegations including committing murder during a carjacking.
Oakland police said that Goh fled the campus after the April 2, 2012, shootings in a car belonging to one of the victims.
He was arrested in Alameda a short time later after he confessed to a Safeway security guard that he had just shot several people, according to police.
The goal for Goh’s treatment at the Napa State Hospital is for him to progress toward recovering his mental competence so he eventually can stand trial.
After the hearing for Goh today, his attorney, David Klaus, said psychiatrists who have examined Goh recently still believe he’s mentally incompetent and is “not close” to being ready to stand trial.
Klaus said Goh is taking the antipsychotic drug perphenazine and is participating in group therapy sessions.
Klaus said Goh lost about 60 pounds while he was in the Alameda County jail because he was depressed and “was paranoid about his food” but is now eating three times a day at the Napa State Hospital and “looked healthy” when he visited him recently.
Killed in the shooting at Oikos last year were students Lydia Sim, 21, Sonam Choedon, 33, Grace Kim, 23, Doris Chibuko, 40, Judith Seymour, 53, and Tshering Bhutia, 38, as well as Katleen Ping, 24, who worked at the school.
Klaus’ comments about Goh’s health during an interview with reporters in a courthouse hallway upset Chibuko’s husband, Efanye Chibuko, 43, who said, “I lost my wife that day and my kids lost their mom.”
Chibuko said he believes that Goh “is taking advantage of the system” because he doesn’t think Goh is mentally incompetent.
Referring to the shooting, Chibuko said Goh “did it and planned it and eventually it will catch up to him.”
Goh is a former student who had left Oikos University voluntarily. Prosecutors have said he appears to have wanted a refund of his tuition, and may have been targeting an administrator who was not present the day of the shooting.
In addition to the murder and attempted murder charges, Goh faces 10 special-circumstance allegations that could result in the death penalty if he’s convicted.
Seven of those allegations are for committing multiple murders and one each are for committing a murder during a robbery, murder during a carjacking and murder during a kidnapping.
Jeff Shuttleworth, Bay City News
