Man Ruled Unfit for Trial in Killings

A former mental patient charged with the fatal shootings of two Universal Studios security guards in December is incompetent to stand trial, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge ruled Thursday.

Judge Florence Bernstein ordered Nathan Trupp, 43, committed to Patton State Hospital, a facility for the criminally insane in San Bernardino County, until he can assist in his own defense.

Trupp, who reportedly told authorities he thought he was killing Nazis, is also accused of fatally shooting three people at a bagel shop in Albuquerque, N.M.

Two court-ordered psychiatrists concluded that Trupp, diagnosed as having a psychotic mental disorder, was mentally unfit to participate in court proceedings or to assist his attorney with his defense.

“If the defendant were to be in a court proceeding or a trial which requires more than 15 or 20 minutes at a time, he will start to drift into his hallucinations and will not be able to keep track of what is going on in the courtroom,” psychiatrist Kaushal K. Sharma wrote in his report.

Sharma said Trupp’s frequent emotional outbursts during the interviews caused Sharma to fear for his safety.

“In his condition, he is able to superficially understand the nature and purpose of the proceedings, but his understanding is less than optimal,” he said. “Additionally, the defendant is not able to rationally cooperate with counsel in presenting a defense.”

Sharma said Trupp, who is taking psychotropic medication, was hallucinating and delusional and often made bizarre, rambling statements during three interviews he conducted.

Trupp is charged with first-degree murder in the killings of Jeren Becks, 27, and Armando Torres, 18. The two were gunned down Dec. 1 at the main entrance to Universal Studios shortly after they turned away Trupp, who had asked to see actor Michael Landon.

Trupp was wounded in a brief exchange of gunfire with sheriff’s deputies before he was captured near Universal Studios.

Trupp is accused of entering an Albuquerque bagel shop two days earlier and shooting three members of the family that operated the business. Killed were Richard Wilt, 38; Jeanne Wilt, 37, and her father, Joseph Famiglietta, 63.

He claimed that the bagels were “jaundiced” and that the three victims were involved in a plot with Landon and Trupp’s brother, according to the psychiatrist’s report.

“The defendant stated that ‘they’ were trying to kill him and there was some kind of conspiracy going on between Michael Landon, the bagel shop, the defendant’s brother and others,” Sharma wrote.

Trupp, his right arm in a plastic cast, sat shackled and subdued in court. He answered affirmatively when Bernstein asked if he understood the outcome of the proceeding.

When previously asked by Sharma if he understood what he had done to cause his arrest, he replied: “I shot some people on the street,” according to Sharma’s report.

“When I asked him why he shot the people, he claimed he did it because ‘I did not feel well,’ ” Sharma wrote.

Bernstein ordered that Trupp, who has been housed in the jail ward of County-USC Medical Center, be transferred to Patton, where he will remain until he is found competent to stand trial, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Linda B. Greenberg. A progress report on his condition was scheduled May 16.

His competency to stand trial could change and he could be judged fit to participate in proceedings at any time in the next three years. If, after three years, he is still judged incompetent to stand trial, a conservator will be appointed, Greenberg said.

Prosecutors in New Mexico have said they will let the Los Angeles case proceed before they seek Trupp’s extradition for trial there.