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SANTA ANA (CNS) - An Orange County Superior Court judge Tuesday found that a 33-year-old man was insane at the time he fatally beat a 70-year-old man in Anaheim on Memorial Day 2021, and the man is now expected to be committed to a mental health facility indefinitely.
David Steven Abbott had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity and was midway through his trial when his defense attorney and prosecutors began discussing a plea deal. Jurors were dismissed Monday, leaving the question of whether Abbott was legally sane at the time he killed Rahmatolah "Davey" Yaghoubi up to Orange County Superior Court Judge Sheila Hanson, who handed down her ruling on Tuesday.
Some 15 minutes before the fatal attack on Yaghoubi, Abbott also attacked another man nearby. At the time of Memorial Day attacks, he was free on bail in knife attacks on two other people on May 15, 2021.
On Monday, in regard to the May 15 attacks, Yaghoubi pleaded guilty to attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon while admitting sentencing enhancements for attempted premeditated murder and the personal use of a deadly weapon.
Additionally on Monday, Hanson found Abbott guilty of first degree murder and misdemeanor assault in the Memorial Day attacks.
Hanson sentenced Abbott to eight years to life in prison for those May 15 crimes. But since she found he was legally insane at the time of the Memorial Day fatal beating, the prison sentence will be suspended until his sanity is restored in a mental health facility. A hearing on where to send Abbott for treatment is set for Feb. 16.
Abbott's attorney, Lee Stonum of the Alternate Defender's Office, said his client has been diagnosed as bipolar and schizophrenic.
Yaghoubi's brother, John Yaghoubi, protested to Hanson on Monday about what he felt was an imbalance in the process.
"It is shocking to me that the person who murdered my brother has more rights than my brother," Yaghoubi said. "To me, it is so disappointing a person can get away with an insanity plea."
A shirtless Abbott, with a large dog in tow, approached Luis Javier Vera about noon that Memorial Day at the victim's home. Vera was in the driveway of the home while his daughter, who had just given birth, was tending to the newborn and watching television.
Vera said his daughter, Kailyn, "brought it to my attention someone" was approaching the home.
"He was very friendly, had a smile on his face and introduced himself," Vera said. "He told me his name and put his hand out so I shook it."
Kailyn Vera said her brother was selling his car in the driveway so she thought Abbott was a potential customer.
Abbott leaned in closely to Vera "and gave me a dirty gaze and looked me in the eye" before hauling off and punching Vera in the head, Vera said.
Vera said he "stumbled" but then managed to compose himself and ran behind the car for cover. The two kept maneuvering back and forth around the car as Vera called to his daughter to dial police, he said.
"He kept yelling, `You don't belong here, go back where you came from,"' Vera said.
Stonum said in his opening statement of the trial that his client appeared to think he could look into the eyes of people and determine if they were possessed by a demon.
Kailyn Vera said she dashed into the house to get her brother, who emerged with his baseball bat while she used his phone to call police.
"My son came out with a baseball to stop him," Vera said.
Abbott began backing away making "devil horns" signs with his hands, Vera said.
Kailyn Vera testified that the defendant "threatened to come back to see me. He pointed right at me specifically."
When they said the police were on the way, Abbott said, "I'm the devil. I know the police and they're on my side," Kailyn Vera testified.
Abbott moved on from the 1300 block of Devonshire Road to Falmouth and Catalpa avenues and began attacking Yaghoubi about 12:15 p.m.
Eric Hoekstra testified he was putting up a flag in his front yard when he hard "some shouting, a commotion."
Initially he thought it might be a "domestic scuffle and I was not inclined to get involved," Hoekstra said.
But as he got closer to the scrum he saw Abbott "hit him hard and snapped the victim's head back," Hoekstra testified. "He crumpled like a bag of rocks."
As Abbott continued kicking the victim Hoekstra shouted to him to "knock it off" while dialing 911, Hoekstra testified. A dispatcher advised Hoekstra that officers were on the way and to not get involved.
As Abbott continued kicking the victim "in the head and torso" he was "screaming, sounding like something Biblical, but I read the Bible and it's nothing I ever read."
Abbott was shouting, "This is what he needs, he needs to repent," Hoekstra testified.
As Hoekstra kept imploring Abbott to stop, "He looked at me, I got his attention," he testified. "He gave me an evil look, and that's when I backed down because he's obviously a dangerous person."
Deputy District Attorney Seton Hunt played a video of the beating death with Abbott heard shouting, "Let the good Lord in your heart!"
Abbott also said, "Get out! In the name of the good spirit! Everything is belief! Hallelujah, good Lord! Hallelujah! Watch. Hallelujah! God bless his good name! The better. Everything!"
Stonum told jurors that he intended to argue for a second-degree murder conviction in the guilt phase and then a finding that his client was insane at the time of the beating.