A second doctor has found Pete Valdez III mentally unfit for
trial, bringing the man accused of trying to shoot a Gilroy police
officer in the head one step closer to serving time in a hospital
instead of prison.
A second doctor has found Pete Valdez III mentally unfit for trial, bringing the man accused of trying to shoot a Gilroy police officer in the head one step closer to serving time in a hospital instead of prison.
Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge David Cena received a second doctor’s report in the defense’s favor this afternoon. Standing outside the San Jose courthouse afterward, Deputy District Attorney Dana Overstreet said a trial attorney from her office would review the two doctors’ reports and return 1:30 p.m. July 8 to request one of three options:
-ask the court for a third and final doctor’s review, which would require “a good cause” due to the time and cost of physician reviews
-ask for the trial to go forward
-submit to the previous two reports and allow Valdez to go to a hospital
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.
As Valdez has 10 prior convictions, he faces life in prison.
Yet, if the District Attorney submitted to the reports, Valdez would spend a maximum of three years in a state hospital, according to District Attorney Spokeswoman Amy 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.
Because he was concerned about Valdez’s mental health, the judge appointed a doctor last month to see if the defendant should stand trial. That doctor found Valdez mentally incompetent, but the exact reasons are private due to doctor-patient confidentiality, Overstreet said. Only if the case goes to court will there be a chance for doctors to testify under oath, and therefore in the public eye.
If the court finds Valdez fit for trial – now or after spending time in a state hospital – the matter will return to the South Santa Clara County Courthouse in Morgan Hill, 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.
Valdez’s checkered history and his family’s local legacy – his father, Pete Valdez Jr., served on the city council for 16 years – have fueled residents’ support and distrust of both Valdez III and police in The Dispatch’s online message boards.
During previous appearances, Valdez III would sometimes look up at his father with teary eyes in between sniffles and moans, or he would sit quietly and well-composed, rarely looking at the audience. This was his demeanor Wednesday, when he appeared in a yellow jumpsuit and shackles.
Gilroy Police Chief Denise Turner could not be reached for comment after Wednesday’s court appearance, but she has said the department fully supports prosecution and believes Valdez III intended to kill Officer John Ballard early in the morning of Nov. 15, 2007.
That’s when 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.
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 defense attorney, Berndt Ingo Brauer, 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.
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.
After his arrest, Valdez III told police he hoped an officer would shoot him, according to court documents.
“I wanted to die,” Valdez III told Officer Jose Barrera, according to a police transcript.
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.
