Psychiatrist Calls Rape Suspect Unfit for Trial

A former Beverly Hills policeman accused of raping an 11-year-old Irvine girl suffers from manic depression, which for years has caused erratic behavior and delusions that he is being pursued by enemies, a psychiatrist testified Thursday.

Based on examinations he performed in July, Dr. Stephen M. Petty said Steven Rush McCoy, 36, is not able to stand trial because he cannot recall his whereabouts during the March 26 incident or help his attorney prepare a defense.

Petty’s testimony came during a pretrial hearing in Municipal Court in Newport Beach, where a jury will decide whether McCoy is competent to stand trial.

McCoy, who worked for two years in the Beverly Hills Police Department in the late 1970s, has pleaded not guilty to the charges of rape, sexual assault and burglary.

Petty told the jury that during visits at the Orange County Jail, McCoy was showing signs of manic behavior.

“He said that if he could just be released from jail, he could prove his innocence like something in a TV show,” Petty said. “There wasn’t much emotion. He wasn’t able to connect with it (criminal charges). His ability to work with his attorney is significantly impaired; his memory is impaired; his perceptions are impaired.”

In responding to questions by Deputy Dist. Atty. Debbie Lloyd, Petty said it was possible McCoy possessed the ability to seduce medical professionals into thinking he was incompetent to stand trial.

When the hearing resumes Wednesday, Lloyd said, she will ask Dr. Kaushal K. Sharma, a Newport Beach psychiatrist, to present results of his examination of McCoy which reportedly will indicate that the defendant is competent to stand trial.

Lloyd said Sharma’s examination was conducted July 8, one day after Petty’s examination.

McCoy was experiencing hallucinations while under his care in January of last year, Petty said.

“He was believing people were trying to harm him,” Petty said, adding that McCoy was hospitalized for a month during that time. “These were actual beliefs that could not be shaken.”

In a jail interview shortly after his arrest, McCoy proclaimed his innocence, telling reporters that law officers should “be looking for the suspect over at the San Diego Zoo in the orangutan section.”

“Whoever did this,” he said then, “was an animal.”