Accused stabber to trial for murder

A schizophrenic man who bounced back and forth between state mental facilities and prosecution will stand trial for allegedly stabbing a fellow client at a San Carlos vocational center more than seven years ago, according to a San Mateo County Superior Court judge.

Vitin Ajani Cruz, 37, has pleaded not guilty to murder and knife charges but Judge Mark Forcum found sufficient evidence to hold him to answer on all counts. Cruz returns to court June 26 to enter a Superior Court plea and set a trial date.

Cruz is accused of the Oct. 27, 2004 fatal stabbing of Alfonso Ruiz. If convicted, Cruz faces up to 26 years in prison.

After years in a state mental facility, Cruz returned to San Mateo County for prosecution last November after doctors found him capable of aiding in his own defense. His court-appointed attorney agreed to accept the finding but cautioned his client’s mental condition remained fragile and subject to change.

According to prosecutors, Cruz attacked Ruiz at Vocational Rehabilitation Services on Quarry Road in San Carlos. Authorities said Cruz mistook Ruiz for another man as they sat next to each other at the center and suddenly lunged at him with a knife. Ruiz was stabbed several times in the upper torso and arm. Cruz fled but was arrested a few blocks away from the site. Ruiz died the following afternoon.

However, defense attorney Vince O’Malley has said his client, who has psychosis and schizophrenia, also has a deep fear of being stabbed because he was left with severe stomach wounds several years before the murder during a bus attack in San Francisco. Cruz thought Ruiz was somehow associated with his previous attackers and possibly armed with a box cutter, according to O’Malley.

Schizophrenia medication and other signs of psychiatric problems were found at Cruz’s home during a police search after the stabbing.

Before he could be tried, Cruz was deemed incompetent by two of three court-appointed doctors and committed in March 2005.

Three years later, he returned to San Mateo County but was rehospitalized that July. After three years, he was placed under a Murphy conservatorship which gives the San Mateo County Public Guardian the authority to make decisions on his behalf. He has since been at the locked psychiatric facility Crestwood Behavioral Health Center near Calistoga.

He remains in custody without bail.