Mental Tests Ordered for Sex Slave Case Suspect
A man accused of keeping two immigrant women as sex slaves was ordered to undergo psychiatric tests to see if head injures he suffered in a jailhouse fight left him incompetent to stand trial.
Municipal Judge Glenette Blackwell said this week that Paul Garcia may not be able to understand the charges against him or assist in his own defense.
Convicted murderer Edward Harris severely beat Garcia during an argument that broke out in the Los Angeles County jail on Aug. 8, officials said, leaving Garcia with a fractured skull and collapsed lung.
Garcia is charged with more than 100 felony counts in connection with the rape and kidnaping of two women he allegedly held captive in a trailer for five months.
Prosecutors allege that Garcia abducted the women off the streets last year, raped and tortured them with electric shocks.
The women eventually escaped and notified police. Garcia was arrested on Sept. 25, 1989.
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