Accused "Tennis Court Killer" Committed to Napa State Hospital

A Millbrae man who last month was to stand trial on murder charges was ordered to a Napa State Hospital, prosecutors said.

Laungatasi Samana Ahio, 22, is charged in the August 2010 stabbing death of 19-year-old Jared Afu.

A San Mateo County Superior Court judge on Friday committed Ahio to the California Department of Mental Health and placed at Napa State Hospital, District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said.

Criminal Presiding Judge John Grandsaert issued a continuance in the case until July 13 for a status conference to insure that Ahio is transported to the state facility.

No involuntary medication mandate has yet been issued to Ahio.

Ahio is charged with murder in a case that could carry the death penalty.

He stabbed Afu multiple times in the face and neck at the Mills High tennis courts in front of the victim’s friends, prosecutors said.

Police arriving on the scene followed a trail of blood to a church where prosecutors said they found Ahio with a bloody knife.

Ahio surrendered  to authorities the next day.

"The parents convinced him that he had to turn himself in, and they came in with him," Wagstaffe said.

Ahio has been held on a no-bail warrant.

This article was originally published today on Millbrae Patch.

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