Psychiatrist Says Child Rape Suspect Fit for Trial : Crime: Defense insists the former policeman is mentally incapable. A full hearing on his competence is ordered by the court.

A psychiatrist reported Friday that a former Beverly Hills policeman accused of raping an 11-year-old Irvine girl is sane and capable of standing trial for the crime.

But members of the defense team for Steven Rush McCoy challenged that conclusion at a court hearing.

“Mr. McCoy is not capable of intelligently assisting us in his defense,” said William L. Cassidy, a defense investigator. “Mr. McCoy has a history of seducing mental health professionals with his considerable charm. Unless one looks beneath the surface, it is hard to see just how disturbed Mr. McCoy really is.”

Cassidy also contended that McCoy, 36, of Irvine was heavily sedated when he was interviewed by Dr. David Sheffner, the court-appointed psychiatrist.

McCoy pleaded not guilty in late April to the charges of rape, sexual assault and burglary stemming from the March 26 incident. On that day, a man posing as a deliveryman carrying a package persuaded the 11-year-old girl to open the door and then raped her at knifepoint inside her apartment in University Town Center, Irvine police said.

At the hearing in Harbor Municipal Court Friday, Judge Christopher W. Strople transferred the case to Superior Court. A full hearing on McCoy’s mental capacity will follow.

Both prosecutors and the defense plan to have McCoy examined by psychiatrists, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Ariadne Symons.

Defense attorney Jan Heger said the report was incomplete because it did not include his client’s prior medical records. The psychiatric report, although discussed in court, was not released. Cassidy said McCoy had been hospitalized repeatedly for mental disorders.

Police investigators said the girl picked McCoy out of a photo lineup as her assailant.

Police found several items at McCoy’s apartment, located in the same complex as the victim’s, that appear to link him to the crime. Among them were articles of clothing belonging to the victim, a knife and a stained sheet believed to be from the attack. Investigators also found a book entitled “How to Assert an Insanity Defense.”

In early April, Judge Strople doubled McCoy’s bond to $500,000 after prosecutors testified to finding notes in the defendant’s handwriting that suggested he planned to flee the area and change his identity.

A native of Los Angeles, McCoy joined the Beverly Hills Police Department in October, 1976, before being named a full-time officer in January, 1978. Beverly Hills police officials refused to give the reason for his dismissal, but McCoy said it was because he was disabled by a motorcycle accident.