OXNARD : Killer of Mother to Remain Hospitalized
A Ventura County Superior Court judge decided Monday to keep an Oxnard man in a state psychiatric hospital for stabbing his mother to death 12 years ago.
Judge Charles R. McGrath renewed orders to keep James Eden, 31, hospitalized at Patton State Hospital.
In 1978, at 19, Eden stabbed his 55-year-old mother, Helen Eden, 71 times with a kitchen knife, nearly decapitating her after she refused to give him cigarettes. The slaying occurred four days after doctors at Camarillo State Hospital decided that Eden had been cured of his schizophrenia and released him, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard E. Holmes.
Eden was tried for murder, but a jury found him not guilty by reason of insanity. He was ordered hospitalized in a locked unit at Patton State Hospital in San Bernardino County for a term of eight years.
On Monday, the district attorney’s office petitioned the court to renew the orders committing Eden to the state hospital--orders which have been renewed every two years since his original committal expired in 1986, Holmes said.
A court-appointed psychologist who examined Eden found him to be “acting out, still mentally ill and a danger to himself and others,” Holmes said.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
