El Cajon
An 29-year-old man charged in the slaying of his mother several weeks after he got out of jail has been found not guilty by reason of insanity.
Richard Martinez Gaitan of El Cajon, who was to have gone to trial Monday, faces a lengthy commitment to a state mental hospital, possibly for the rest of his life.
His mother, Virginia Guenther, 67, was stabbed to death Sept. 16 in the home they shared. Gaitan notified El Cajon police of his mother’s death, telling them he had killed her the night before.
He had a self-inflicted stab wound to his chest when police arrested him.
San Diego Superior Court Judge Fred Link read doctors’ reports about Gaitan in a brief sanity trial last week and the attorneys submitted the case to him without calling witnesses.
Gaitan, who remains in county jail without bail, returns to court April 19 for sentencing.
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