Pinoy in San Diego triple murder fit to stand trial –judge

A judge recently ruled that the Filipino-American man charged over the 2013 Christmas Eve triple killings in the parking lot of a San Diego mall is competent to stand trial, a report said.
Murder charges have been filed against Carlo Mercado, 30, for allegedly killing three people, according to a report on NBC San Diego.
He was reportedly diagnosed with schizophrenia, psychotic and catatonic depression by psychiatrists, and had a 10-month stint in Patton State Hospital, a psychiatric facility, after a judge found he was not competent to stand trial.
In September, however, Mercado was cleared for prosecution by the hospital, the report said.
While Peter Fischetti, San Diego Jail’s chief mental clinician, testified in court that Mercado was just faking his illness, Dr. Erin Ferma, a psychologist who evaluated Mercado, described him as "extremely flat, extremely disengaged."
Mercado is suspected of killing Salvatore Belvedere, 22; his brother Gianni Belvedere, 24; and Gianni’s fiancée Ilona Flint, 22.
A separate report on the San Diego Union-Tribune said Mercado's ethnicity is listed in jail records as Filipino. —KBK, GMA News

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