Murderer found legally sane

Kirincic was out of jail for just a few days after completing a four-month sentence for felony domestic violence when he went to Straw’s San Mateo home and stabbed her to death. He fled the scene before police arrived, prompting an extensive two-day search before he was finally spotted at his parents’ Redwood City home, according to police and prosecutors.

The jury’s decision Tuesday marks the end of a 15-day trial spanning two phases, the first of which ended with Kirincic’s first-degree murder conviction and the possibility of a sentence of 25 years to life in prison last week. Though Kirincic was found to have killed Straw, his fate remained in suspense as the jury considered in the second phase of the trial whether he either understood the nature and quality or the legal or moral implications of his actions during the crime.

At stake was Kirincic’s expected prison sentence of at least 25 years if he were found to have been insane at the time of the crime, which would have committed him to a state mental hospital until he regained sanity and was deemed no longer a danger to the community, after which point he could go free.

In her closing argument Tuesday, prosecutor Tricia Povah sought to dispel doubts Kirincic intended to kill Straw and was instead acting out of self-preservation because he suffered from paranoid schizophrenia, an argument offered by his defense attorney Savas Loukedis. By asserting Kirincic was oriented to time, place, his situation and the people who he interacted with that day, Povah contended he was not living in an alternate universe the day of Straw’s death because of his mental illness.

Acknowledging Kirincic could have been affected by mental illness, Povah argued the degree to which it affected him was not enough to absolve him of his criminal behaviors, especially given his history of violence toward Straw, whose previous reports of domestic violence issues with Kirincic landed him in jail in the months before her murder.

“He knew Colleen Straw was Colleen Straw. He knew there was a no contact order and ‘I’m not supposed to be around her,’” she said. “There is no intersection of his mental illness and the crime which he committed.”

A main focus of Povah and Loukedis’ arguments Tuesday were the testimonies of three doctors called to the stand Monday. Though a court-appointed doctor and one called to the stand by Povah diagnosed Kirincic with a drug-induced psychosis related to sustained drug use, a doctor called to the stand by Loukedis diagnosed him with paranoid schizophrenia, which Loukedis argued contributed to delusions Kirincic had that others were trying to kill him.

Having previously been the victim of a stabbing, Kirincic had previously said he had paranoid tendencies and had delusions about people trying to hurt him, said Loukedis. The attorney said the same paranoia was triggered when Straw attempted to take the knife away from him that day. Though the other two doctors suggested Kirincic’s diagnosis at the time of the murder was drug-related from years of use of methamphetamine and other illegal drugs, Loukedis argued Kirincic suffered from a long-standing mental conditions that may have even preceded his relationship with Straw.

“It can’t be from drugs, it has to be something else. What that is is the paranoid schizophrenia,” he said. “He was in a self-preservation mode and did what he had to do.”

Though Kirincic’s face maintained an impassive expression throughout much of the second phase, District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said Straw’s family, who had been attending the hearings, was pleased with the jury’s decision.

Wagstaffe said Kirincic faces at least 25 years to life in prison with the possibility of parole when he next appears in court for sentencing April 27. Though Wagstaffe acknowledged a parole board would ultimately decide whether Kirincic would remain in prison for the rest of his life, he commended the jury for its judgment of his case in recent weeks.

“Once again, this jury has brought justice for the community and for the family of the murder victim and they did wonderful work,” he said. “As for Mr. Kirincic, an out-of-control killer who ended the life of our victim for no reason, he appropriately is being convicted.”

anna@smdailyjournal.com

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