Hate Crime Slaying Suspect Is Mentally Ill, Lawyer Says

The woman accused of capital murder in a hate crime killing suffers from bipolar disorder, was being treated with antipsychotic drugs, and had checked herself into a mental hospital three days before the crime, her lawyer said Wednesday.

Hours after she was released from a Bay Area hospital, Marie Elise West allegedly used her car to run down and kill 65-year-old Jesus Plascencia, according to her lawyer, Carl A. “Tony” Capozzola.

West, 35, of Hermosa Beach, chomped on an apple in court in Eagle Rock on Wednesday and spat profane outbursts at the judge who could decide whether she will face the death penalty, which prosecutors are seeking.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Michael S. Luros appointed three doctors to evaluate the mental condition of West to determine whether she is competent to stand trial. If so, she could be the first person in Los Angeles County to face the death penalty for a murder classified as a hate crime.

West appeared to rant in court, repeatedly interrupting Luros.

“Where are you from, Germany or somewhere?” she asked the judge, still biting on the green apple that matched her fingernails.

“No, ma’am,” Luros answered. “I’m from the faraway land of Brooklyn.”

The hearing had been delayed most of the day because West refused to go to court willingly. Luros ordered her to be brought, and four bailiffs stood behind her throughout the proceedings.

West is a UCLA graduate who studied law at UC Berkeley.

She is charged under a state law that permits capital punishment for a hate-crime slaying in cases in which a defendant kills because of a person’s race, color, religion, nationality or country of origin. Witnesses have said West called Plascencia, a Latino, “road kill” after she repeatedly ran over him with her car.

Capozzola’s comments came before the judge issued a gag order in the case.

West’s medical records show prescriptions for the antipsychotic drugs haloperidol, Desyrel and risperdal as well as other lithium-based medicines and the pain killer Vicodin, Capozzola said. Capozzola said she had not been taking the medications in the days leading up to the parking lot death.

Capozzola said he recently approached state legislators about changing the state laws allowing involuntary hospitalization of mentally ill patients only while they are an immediate threat to themselves or others.

“You can’t treat this stuff in three days like the law requires,” Capozzola said. “You have to have follow-up care. Marie went to the system for help, and the system failed her. The only way she is going to keep getting help is if something bad keeps happening.”

West is scheduled to return to court Nov. 15 for a hearing to review the psychiatrists’ findings.