Molester in Intensive Care After Apparently Attempting Suicide

An El Cajon man convicted of molesting his girlfriend’s daughter remained in intensive care Thursday after apparently attempting to commit suicide in a Vista courtroom, authorities said.

Authorities are keeping Jack Wright, 32, under 24-hour guard, and will take him to jail as soon as doctors say it is safe for him to leave the hospital, Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman Robbie Hill said. He may be placed in the jail’s medical ward, or sent for psychiatric evaluation if he is still suicidal, before he is transferred to state prison, Hill said.

Wright was convicted in November for sexually abusing his girlfriend’s daughter for a three-year period beginning when she was 8 years old, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Rick Clabby, who prosecuted the case.

Wright started shaking and then collapsed during a sentencing hearing Wednesday, moments after a judge ordered him to serve 10 years in state prison and asked that he be immediately taken into custody, Clabby said.

Paramedics found Wright in full cardiac arrest and took him to Tri-City Medical Center, Vista Fire Department spokeswoman Kathy Johnston said.

The hospital said that Wright had swallowed sodium cyanide, Vista Fire Capt. Paul Grubaugh told the Associated Press Wednesday.

A search of Wright’s belongings turned up a tape recording with instructions that it should be played in the event of his death, Clabby said.

“It said he didn’t do it and he just wanted the world to know it,” Clabby said. “He’s not the victim here. That little girl is the victim again, because he won’t validate what happened to her.”

Wright was found guilty on 10 counts of committing lewd and lascivious acts on a child and faced a maximum of 26 years in prison, Clabby said. He was freed on $20,000 bail and appeared for a sentencing hearing Jan. 15, which was continued to Wednesday, Clabby said. A probation office review recommended the maximum sentence.