A Santa Barbara County Superior Court judge Wednesday confirmed his previous finding that a Santa Maria man accused of murdering four people is mentally incompetent to stand trial.

Judge James Rigali ordered during a hearing in Santa Maria that Lee Leeds be sent to Patton State Hospital, a psychiatric facility, until he is deemed competent to stand trial.

Gene Martinez, chief assistant district attorney for the North County, said that Leeds will undergo treatment and evaluation at Patton, where he will be put on medication to treat his mental illness.

Leeds is set to return to court on March 14, Martinez said, at which time the court will be provided with a report of Leeds’ progress, and will decide whether to resume criminal proceedings.

Leeds, 32, faces murder charges stemming from a shooting spree March 18 at Black Road Auto in Santa Maria that killed four men: Golden “Dave” Duboise, Ricardo Leal, Terry Majan and Robert Leeds. Robert Leeds, father of the accused, owned the auto salvage yard where the killings happened.

Lee Leeds’ family has said that he suffers from paranoid schizophrenia.

His primary attorney, Senior Deputy Public Defender Robert Ikola, has said that Leeds has been refusing to take his medication.

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The other defense attorney on Leeds’ case, Deputy Public Defender Brian Carroll, said Wednesday that if doctors at Patton prescribe Leeds medicine to treat his mental illness, the hospital has the authority to enforce that Leeds take the medication.

December 11, 2008