A mentally ill man was charged Wednesday with stabbing his stepfather to death after the victim celebrated his wedding anniversary with the defendant's mother, according to the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office.
Daniel Hsaio, 22, dressed in yellow jail attire, appeared in Superior Court in San Jose before Judge Hector Ramon, who ordered him held at the county jail without bail and scheduled a plea hearing for Sept. 17.
Hsaio, who has undergone treatment for mental illness, on Saturday grabbed a knife from the kitchen of his parents' Almaden Valley home in San Jose and attacked his stepfather in a bedroom, Deputy District Attorney Dan Fehderau said.
The defendant stabbed the victim, 55-year-old Ian Leighton, while standing behind him and also cut his mother's hand as she tried to stop him, Fehderau said.
San Jose police received an emergency call at 6:02 p.m. Saturday at 6692 Charter Oak Place from Hsaio's mother, Ying Cui, who said her son had "gone crazy and stabbed" Leighton, according to a statement of facts filed by police Detective Brian McDonald.
Paramedics transported Leighton to Santa Clara Valley Medical Center where he was pronounced dead at 6:54 p.m., McDonald reported.
Cui told police that after stabbing Leighton, Hsaio fled to the Los Alamitos Trail near Camden Avenue.
An officer went to the trail in the area of Camden and Graystone Lane and found Hsaio, whose hands and clothes were covered in blood, and arrested him, according to police.
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The defendant has had other pending criminal cases unrelated to Saturday's attack, Fehderau said.
