Criminal proceedings were suspended April 18 against an Alpine woman after her attorney told a judge she doubted she was mentally competent for trial. The defendant is suspected of inflicting corporal injuries to her husband. A mental competency hearing is set for June 11 in San Diego Superior Court&n
Criminal proceedings were suspended April 18 against an Alpine woman after her attorney told a judge she doubted she was mentally competent for trial. The defendant is suspected of inflicting corporal injuries to her husband. A mental competency hearing is set for June 11 in San Diego Superior Court for Erin Elizabeth Cutter, 41, who remains in the Las Colinas Women’s Detention Facility on $25,000 bail. Cutter will be evaluated in jail by a psychiatrist who will write a report prior to the hearing. If a judge finds she is mentally competent, a preliminary hearing will be set and criminal proceedings will be reinstated. If she is determined to be mentally incompetent, Cutter will be sent to a state psychiatric facility for treatment until she becomes competent. Attorney Dawnella Gilzean told El Cajon Superior Court Judge Daniel Lamborn she suspected her client did not understand court proceedings. Lamborn was required to suspend proceedings after her attorney notified him she doubted her client’s mental competency. The suspension occurred April 18, which was the day for the preliminary hearing in which witnesses were going to testify about the March 5 incident that occurred around 9 p.m. in her home in the 2600 block of Alpine Boulevard. Her husband was injured when he attempted to remove two shotguns from the couple’s bedroom. She allegedly barricaded herself in an upstairs bedroom where there were weapons and hundreds of rounds of ammunition, according to the sheriff’s department. Cutter has pleaded not guilty.
