Ramirez Won’t Make Insanity Plea

With the start of his trial only a week away, Night Stalker suspect Richard Ramirez has decided against entering a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity, his lawyers disclosed Thursday during pretrial proceedings in Los Angeles Superior Court.

At the same time, Superior Court Judge Michael A. Tynan ordered that jury selection in the much-delayed case begin Thursday.

The process of selecting a 12-member jury, and perhaps as many as 12 alternates, could consume six to eight months, maybe more. And the trial itself could last “something over a year to two years,” Tynan estimated.

During voir dire, as the process is called, defense lawyers Daniel and Arturo Hernandez are expected to separately pursue several other legal avenues that conceivably could slow the case’s progress.

Among them is the appeal of a July 8 finding by an Orange County judge that Tynan is not biased against the defendant. Last month, the Hernandezes sought to have Tynan disqualified after he harshly admonished them behind closed doors.

That warning came after a court appearance during which Ramirez obtained a rock music cassette that he was not entitled to have. The incident began when an unidentified spectator in Tynan’s courtroom asked a bailiff to give the tape to Ramirez. The bailiff refused. Later, Ramirez apparently picked up the tape from the defense counsel table.

Presiding Judge Phillip E. Cox of the Orange County Superior Court denied the defense challenge, and the case was returned to Tynan on Thursday morning.

Tynan is scheduled on Monday morning to hear several apparently minor issues in the case, as well as to hold a closed-door meeting with Ramirez’s lawyers, who said they wish to formally inform the judge that they have fully advised their client of the option of pleading not guilty by reason of insanity and that Ramirez chose not to take that route.

The 28-year-old drifter from Texas is charged with murdering 13 Southern Californians and faces 30 other serious felony counts, including robbery, burglary, rape and sodomy--all stemming from a spree that terrorized the region in the summer of 1985. He also faces additional charges in San Francisco and in Orange County. Ramirez has pleaded not guilty.

Through almost three years of hearings, the defense has not indicated what its strategy will be.

Prosecutor Phil Halpin, a senior Los Angeles County deputy district attorney, was guardedly optimistic about the latest starting date for the trial.

In a motion filed this week opposing defense requests for additional time to prepare for trial, Halpin said the Hernandezes “will never voluntarily proceed to trial,” adding, “This dilatory conduct clearly offends the principle of the right to speedy trial for all parties.”

Ramirez has been in custody since his arrest on Aug. 31, 1985.