El Cajon

After deliberating more than two hours Thursday, a jury found Toufic Naddi mentally competent to stand trial for murder in the slayings of his wife and four of her relatives in El Cajon in 1985.

Naddi, 47, of El Cajon, gave a “thumbs up” gesture and smiled after hearing the clerk in San Diego Superior Court read the verdict.

The ruling clears the way for Naddi’s murder trial, and Judge Terry O’Rourke resumed criminal proceedings against him.

“Congratulations, Mr. Naddi,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert Boles said afterward.

“Thank you,” Naddi said.

Boles had argued that Naddi was mentally competent to stand trial and that Naddi also believed he was competent.

Naddi was found mentally competent March 10, 1987, by another jury, but O’Rourke ordered the second competency trial after Naddi made another outburst in court last September.

Naddi could face the death penalty if he is convicted of killing his wife, Aida, 26; her father, Habib Sabbagh, 73; her mother, Lillian Sabbagh, 58; her brother, Michael Sabbagh, 38, and her brother-in-law, Osama Mashimi, 38.

The slayings occurred June 1, 1985, in the couple’s home on Carlow Way in El Cajon.

In 1986, another judge ruled Naddi was incompetent to stand trial and he was sent to Patton State Hospital to recover. Four months later, the mental hospital’s officials returned Naddi to San Diego, saying he had regained his competency.

The attorneys made their final arguments Thursday and this second competency trial began Feb. 3.

The next hearing is set for Feb. 18, when another of Naddi’s attorneys will bring a motion to have the district attorney’s office disqualified from prosecuting him. The reason cited for disqualifying the DA’s office is that one of Naddi’s previous attorneys, Millie Durovic, is now with the DA’s office.