Crime & Safety
Woman Convicted in Napa State Hospital Shooting Accused of Pleasant Hill Murder
By Bay City News Service.
A murder trial is underway in Martinez for a woman who was convicted in 1999 of shooting at four Napa County sheriff's deputies at in 1997.
Diane Warrick has a history of mental illness, and in the penalty phase of her Napa trial she was found not guilty by reason of insanity and committed to Patton State Hospital in Southern California for life.
Napa County District Attorney Gary Lieberstein said that when Warrick returned to Napa for a sanity hearing in 2002, his office contested her request to be declared sane, but a judge found that she had regained sanity and was no longer a danger to the public.
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She was released to an outpatient program in Contra Costa County and in 2003, she was released to a community treatment program, Lieberstein said.
Contra Costa County Superior Court Judge Leslie Landau has ruled that attorneys can't present evidence of Warrick's prior conviction at her current trial for stabbing to death an elderly woman in her care last summer.
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Warrick is accused of killing 70-year-old Mary Jane Scanlon, whose body was discovered lying on her bedroom floor on June 23, 2010, by a friend who came by to check on her.
During Thursday's statements, the prosecution said it would seek to convict Warrick of first-degree murder. Prosecutor Jason Peck said that evidence would show that Warrick committed the crime inside Scanlon's Pleasant Hill home that she shared with Warrick at the time.
Warrick's attorney Terri Mockler did not dispute the accusation that Warrick committed the crime, but said that she would be asking the jury to convict her of a lesser offense.
"Ladies and gentlemen, there is absolutely no dispute that this was a very tragic and ... heinous crime," Mockler said.
"This is not a case of 'Who done it?'" Mockler said. "Ms. Warrick did stab and kill Ms. Scanlon on June 23, 2010."
Mockler said that Warrick didn't plan to kill Scanlon and that she didn't profit from killing Scanlon but instead lost everything when she committed the crime.
By Bay City News Service.
