Accused Killer Found Mentally Incompetent

A former mental patient charged with the fatal shootings of two Universal Studios security guards last 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 an Albuquerque, N.M., bagel shop.

Two court-ordered psychiatrists concluded that Trupp is unfit to participate in court proceedings or assist his attorney.

“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 a report to the court.

Sharma said Trupp, who is taking mood-altering drugs, nonetheless, was hallucinating and delusional and often made bizarre, rambling statements during three interviews he conducted. The psychiatrist said he feared for his own safety during the interviews because of Trupp’s frequent emotional outbursts.

“In his condition he is able to superficially understand the nature and purpose of the proceedings, but his understanding is less than optimal,” Sharma said.

Trupp is charged with first-degree murder in the Dec. 1 killings of Jeren Becks, 27, and Armando Torres, 18, at the main entrance to Universal Studios. The two guards were shot 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 nearby.

Two days earlier, Trupp allegedly entered an Albuquerque bagel shop and shot 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 his 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, with his right arm in a plastic cast, sat shackled and subdued in court. He answered “yes” when Bernstein asked if he understood the outcome of the proceeding.

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

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

Progress Report

The court will get a progress report May 16 on the condition of Trupp, who has been held in the hospital ward of the County Jail.

A trial could be scheduled if he is ruled fit to participate in the legal proceedings at any time during the next three years, Deputy Dist. Atty. Linda Greenberg said. 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 first before they seek extradition of Trupp for trial there.