Lawyer seeks psychological evaluation of accused Capitola killer
By Felix Cortez
Click here for updates on this story
CAPITOLA, California (KSBW) — The Bay Area man accused of murdering his Capitola girlfriend was back in a Santa Cruz courtroom Tuesday morning for arraignment and for the second time it was postponed.
During the court hearing one defense attorney dropped out of the defense team and a new lawyer asked for a psychological evaluation of the accused killer.
Tuesday’s scheduled arraignment comes two weeks after Theobald Lengyel, 54 was arrested on charges he murdered Alice Herrmann, 61 last month.
For the second time, Lengyel failed to enter a plea. During the hearing public defender Sarah Schumacher declared a conflict of interest. A new attorney, Mitchell Page, made an oral request for a possible psychological evaluation of Lengyel.
Lengyel was arrested January 2nd in Davenport nearly a month after Herrmann was last seen in Capitola, her car was found outside his El Cerrito home.
The same day of his arrest, Capitola police announced remains had been found in a Berkeley park, believed to be those of Herrmann however confirmation the remains are those of Herrmann are pending DNA testing.
At this point investigators are not revealing how Herrmann was murdered.
According to the criminal complaint, prosecutors have charged Lengyel with murder, residential burglary, and auto theft.
Lengyel’s arraignment has been rescheduled for February 8th. He remains in the county jail, on a no bail hold.
Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.
