A transient who prosecutors say beat an elderly Belmont man so severely during a home invasion robbery he later died was ordered Friday to stand trial on potentially capital murder charges.
The finding of sufficient evidence against Tyler James Hutchinson comes less than a year after the 24-year-old returned from a state mental hospital where he was previously committed as unfit to aid in his own defense. He next returns to court March 2 to enter a plea in Superior Court and set a trial date.
Friday’s conclusion also means Hutchinson is headed to trial for the death of 88-year-old Albert Korn which is approaching its third anniversary.
Korn died in June 2009, two weeks after allegedly encountering Hutchinson who prosecutors say broke into his Hallmark Drive home, beat him and fled in his car with a wallet and jewelry. Hutchinson was identified as the suspect after being arrested for similar home invasion robberies in West Sacramento. After being convicted in those crimes, Hutchinson was sentenced to prison for six years and eight months and sent back to San Mateo County. Hutchinson was also charged in a jailhouse attack after his arrest on an correctional officers providing security for a maintenance worker in his cell.
Last April, Hutchinson was committed to a hospital after being found mentally unfit but doctors there found him competent and returned him to San Mateo County for prosecution. Hutchinson is eligible for the death penalty if convicted of murder in the commission of another felony, robbery, but prosecutors have yet to announce if they will seek it. If not, he could receive life in prison without the chance of parole.
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Hutchinson’s competency was questioned in Yolo County and also in previous San Mateo County cases. In one incident, approximately a year before Korn’s beating, Hutchinson reportedly yelled epithets and spit at one of two women standing with their young children at the Hillsdale Caltrain station in San Mateo.
At numerous court appearances since his arrest Hutchinson has spoken out and demanded a speedy trial. When his attorney asked in December to delay the preliminary hearing until Friday, Hutchinson reportedly spit in the man’s face and told him to "get out of his face.”
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