Arraignment Delayed in Slaying of Physician

The arraignment in the slaying of Escondido physician Craig R. Blundell has been postponed until Aug. 13 so the suspect’s family can hire a permanent lawyer.

Steven Alan Larsen, 30, who is being held on suspicion of murder in County Jail here, appeared Wednesday before Presiding Judge Harley Earwicker in Vista Municipal Court. Earwicker granted a request by Larsen’s temporary attorney, Howard Clayton, that the arraignment be continued until permanent counsel could be found.

Blundell, 37, a gastroenterologist, was slain at his Escondido office Monday morning. Larsen was arrested by Escondido police shortly after the shooting less than two miles from the offices of Palomar Medical Group, where the shooting occurred.

Earwicker also granted Deputy Dist. Atty. George Beall’s request that no bail be set. The district attorney’s office has not decided whether to seek special circumstances, which would allow prosecutors to seek the death penalty, Beall said.

“The case is still under investigation,” Beall said. “We don’t have all the facts yet.”

One special circumstance covers murders committed while “lying in wait.”

Dr. Robert Peacock, a partner in Palomar Medical Group to which Blundell belonged and who served as a spokesman for several eyewitnesses on the staff, indicated Tuesday that Blundell’s killer waited for him for some time in the main waiting room of the complex before the shooting.

Larsen, who has degrees in dentistry and engineering and who worked in oil fields in Alaska and Bakersfield for Atlantic Richfield Company before being laid off in May, lived at his mother’s Escondido home.

Services for Blundell will be at 11 a.m. today at Cathedral of the Valley, 927 Idaho Ave., Escondido.