After two doctors said Pete Valdez III was mentally unfit for
trial, a judge has decided to let a jury decide whether the man
accused of trying to shoot a Gilroy police officers in the head is
competent to stand trial. If the jury sides with the doctors,
Valdez III could avoid a life sentence and spend three years in a
state hospital.
After two doctors said Pete Valdez III was mentally unfit for trial, a judge has decided to let a jury decide whether the man accused of trying to shoot a Gilroy police officers in the head is competent to stand trial. If the jury sides with the doctors, Valdez III could avoid a life sentence and spend three years in a state hospital.
Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge David Cena said Wednesday that the court will schedule Valdez III’s trial next week. Upon hearing the decision, the portly defendant’s eyes watered as his face bunched up and turned red.
Valdez’s private attorney, Berndt Ingo Brauer, consulted with his client, who slowly shook his head. Behind them in the gallery sat Valdez III’s father – former long-time Gilroy City Councilman Pete Valdez Jr. – who watched his son attentively.
The jury will decide whether Valdez III is competent to stand trial, District Attorney Spokeswoman Amy Cornell said. During the past few months, two doctors conducted interviews with Valdez III and ruled he was not competent to stand trial. Their medical reports remain off limits to the public per doctor-patient confidentiality laws, but Assistant District Attorney Dana Overstreet said both sides will likely call the doctors to testify.
Valdez has been denied bail and faces charges of attempted murder and three other felonies resulting from a 2007 encounter in which he allegedly pulled a gun, pointed it at a police officer’s head, and pulled the trigger multiple times. Because the gun’s bullets were jammed in the chamber, the gun did not fire and the officer was not hurt. Valdez told police afterward he was trying to scare the officer into shooting and killing him because he wanted to die, according to court records and earlier testimonies.
As Valdez has 10 prior convictions, he faces life in prison. However, if the jury finds him incompetent, Valdez would spend a maximum of three years in a state hospital, according to Cornell. At the end of three years – or if a mental health doctor discharges Valdez prior to that – the defendant will have a hearing to see if he should face charges again.
The District Attorney’s office will not drop charges even if Valdez actually avoids trial due to his mental health, Cornell said. However, if after spending the allotted time in a state hospital, Valdez is still ruled unfit to stand trial, Cornell said it is possible he will not face any charges.
Those charges stem from an incident early the morning of Nov. 15, 2007, when Gilroy Officer John Ballard noticed Valdez III bicycling without a headlight, according to court documents. Drawings and expert testimonials during the preliminary examination showed Ballard tried to stop Valdez III before the portly man took off on his bike. Valdez III ditched the bike a few blocks later, at which point a brief foot chase ensued. Ballard caught up with Valdez III and tackled the suspect in a dark dirt lot near the intersection of Eighth and Church streets, police said.
The two men struggled for a few moments before Valdez III took out a .25-caliber semiautomatic handgun loaded with seven hollow-point bullets, according to court documents. With his face in the dirt and Ballard – a 12-year officer – on top trying to restrain him, Valdez III pointed the gun at Ballard’s head and pulled the trigger multiple times, according to court documents. But the gun malfunctioned because two bullets clogged the chamber.
Eventually Ballard and a back-up officer cuffed Valdez III with the help of an electronic stun gun and several blows to the head, officers said.
Valdez III’s’ private lawyer has argued his client was attempting to shoot Ballard only to provoke him into shooting and killing Valdez III. The prosecution has argued that Valdez III was attempting to kill Officer Ballard. Ballard and his back-up officer told the court they did not pull their own guns because they were focused on getting rid of Valdez III’s firearm and saving Ballard’s life.
Brauer has also faced an uphill battle trying to secure potential video footage of the incident. Four cars responded to the Nov. 15 incident, including Ballard’s vehicle, police said. However, Ballard did not have a camera in his vehicle, according to police and, although two of the cars that followed had cameras, they were not working correctly or were not being used at all, according to the city’s former information technology director. There were also complications with the storage of the video drives that may have corrupted some of the data, which Brauer hoped contained footage of Valdez III’s arrest.
