Man Pleads Insanity in Double Slaying
A La Crescenta furniture merchant who claimed he was killing “the devil” and “a demon” entered not-guilty pleas Friday in the double slaying of an Upper Ojai cancer patient and his daughter.
Miguel Hugo Garcia, 43, pleaded not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity to two murder counts in the May 22 killings of 83-year-old Albert “Jim” Alexander and 42-year-old Helen Giardina at Alexander’s home in Upper Ojai.
Defense attorney James Farley has said his client was insane at the time of the killing.
“He’s been in a psychotic and manic-depressive state and was not aware of the rightfulness or wrongfulness of his actions,” Farley said Friday. “But now that he’s on a different medication, he understands the charges against him.”
A trial is scheduled for Aug. 15. Garcia is being held without bail in the Ventura County Jail.
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