Judge Rules Popal Not Fit For Trial

Judge: Suspect in hit-and-run not fit for trial

An Alameda County judge has ruled that a Fremont charged with murder in a deadly hit-and-run spree four years ago is not mentally stable enough to participate in his legal defense.

Judge Morris Jacobson on Monday suspended the criminal proceedings involving 33-year-old Omeed Aziz Popal while the defendant receives treatment for mental illness.

 Authorities say Popal used his SUV in 2006 to run down 18 people in San Francisco less than an hour after he fatally struck 54-year-old Stephen Jay Wilson in Fremont.

A San Francisco judge found Popal not guilty by reason of insanity two years ago.

Popal spent eight months at Napa State Hospital before an Alameda County grand jury returned a murder indictment against him for Wilson's death.
 

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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