MURRIETA, Calif. (KESQ) – After deliberating barely one day, jurors tasked with assessing the mental competency of a man accused of ambushing and killing a 30-year-old Riverside County sheriff’s deputy returned with a verdict of competence, paving the way for a capital murder trial.
The Murrieta jury assigned to the case of Jesse Ceazar Navarro, 45, of Lake Elsinore decided on Wednesday that the defendant is not psychologically impaired.
Riverside County Superior Court Judge F. Paul Dickerson accepted the unanimous finding and set a status hearing for Navarro on Feb. 27 at the Southwest Justice Center in Murrieta. Trial proceedings may still bea year or more away…