Jury Says Transient Unfit for Trial in Girlfriend’s Slaying

A 22-year-old transient who told jurors that he is a “fallen angel” and has conversed with Jesus was found incompetent to stand trial in the stabbing death of his girlfriend.

A Van Nuys Superior Court jury deliberated for about three hours before deciding that Christopher Michael Rowland is incapable of cooperating with his attorney and assisting in his defense as required by state law and the U.S. Constitution.

Rowland is accused of stabbing 18-year-old Roberta Mosentheim in a Van Nuys motel on Feb. 12. The couple had known each other only eight days but were planning to be married, prosecutors said.

Judge James M. Coleman ordered Rowland to return to court on Dec. 17, when he is expected to be sent to a mental health facility recommended by county health officials.

An earlier jury charged with assessing Rowland’s competence deadlocked, 9 to 3, in favor of finding Rowland incompetent to stand trial.

During the second hearing, Rowland reiterated his claims that he had spoken to Jesus and was a fallen angel. Three psychiatrists, called as witnesses by Rowland’s attorney, testified that Rowland is a paranoid schizophrenic and suffers from severe depression.

Rowland insisted that he is competent to stand trial and accused the public defender’s office of working with prosecutors to lock him away in a mental hospital.

Mosentheim’s body was found in the Chateau Motel in the 6700 block of Sepulveda Boulevard with Rowland’s T-shirt draped over her head. Family members said Mosentheim fell in love with Rowland after being introduced to him by her brother, who brought Rowland home after meeting him on a bus.

Rowland had been released on parole from state prison in Chino two months before the killing after serving four years for assault, police said.

Rowland’s attorney, Deputy Public Defender William Thornbury, said Rowland will probably undergo treatment with medication and counseling. If he later is found to be mentally competent, he will be returned to stand trial.