Paraplegic Accused in ’74 Slaying Found Not Competent for Trial

A Superior Court judge ruled Thursday that a brain-damaged paraplegic is not mentally competent to stand trial for the murder of a woman found stabbed to death and buried behind what once had been the suspect’s home in Venice.

Judge Florence Bernstein, basing her ruling on a psychiatric evaluation of Hercules Butler, found that the 56-year-old defendant is unable to understand the legal proceedings against him.

Butler, who has been a paraplegic since landing on his head after being hurled from a third-story window during an argument several years ago, is charged with killing Adrienne Piriano, 30, in 1974 and entombing her corpse in concrete behind his bungalow in the 900 block of Nowita Place.

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He will be confined in a state mental hospital until a progress report is made on March 21. If he is then found mentally competent, prosecutors will proceed with their case. If he is found incompetent, he will remain hospitalized until it is determined that he has regained his competence.

The case was opened a year ago when contractors strengthening the foundations of the house for its present owners discovered the remains of a woman in the back yard. No one knew who she was, but concrete poured over the body had hardened into an impression of much of the victim, including some of her fingerprints and a reverse image of part of her face.

Property records showed that the home had belonged to Butler, but police, who finally tracked him down at a convalescent home, said they were able to get little information from him.

Eventually, with the aid of a woman who had seen a composite drawing on the victim, Piriano was identified. Two months later, police believed they had enough evidence to arrest Butler, who during the early 1970s was known for riding around the Venice area on a wobbly bicycle and for picking up stray people at the beach.

Police said Piriano was one of the people who moved into his house, on a narrow tree-lined street leading to the beach.

“Detectives were able to interview enough people to put enough information together for the district attorney’s office to file one count of first-degree murder,” Los Angeles Police Lt. Ross Moen said when Butler was arrested last June.

‘Pointed the Finger’

The detectives “spoke to people who pointed the finger,” he said.

Moen said one neighbor remembered Butler doing concrete work around the house at the time Piriano disappeared, and another witness recalled Butler saying, “If you don’t quit arguing with me, I’ll bury you in the back yard with Adrienne.”