Gary Lee Bullock looked alternately sullen and irritable in court today as Judge John Feeney added a special allegation of carjacking to the charge of murdering Father Eric Freed on Jan. 1, 2014. That special allegation joins two others — that the murder was committed while engaged in first degree residential burglary, and that it was committed intentionally with the infliction of torture. 

The legal basis for the carjacking special allegation was laid earlier this year with a California Supreme Court decision in a Lake County case, People v. Johnson. In that case, the court ruled that carjacking could be considered a special allegation under a murder charge rather than a separate crime.

Feeney asked defense attorney Kaleb Cockrum for a response to the additional allegation. Cockrum said that while he feels the Johnson case “rewrites the definition of carjacking,” he acknowledged that he doesn’t have a legal cause to object, given the Supreme Court ruling.

Bullock also faces a felony count of unlawful driving or taking of a vehicle (Freed’s 2010 Nissan Altima, which he allegedly used to flee the scene of the crime), and a felony county of attempted arson of an inhabited structure — namely the rectory at St. Bernard’s Catholic Church in Eureka, where Freed lived.

Reading from a yellow slip of paper provided by Cockrum, Bullock reiterated his plea of not guilty because, he said in a flat tone, “I was insane at the time the unlawful offenses occurred.”

Judge Feeney again reminded Bullock that his plea could result in a lifetime commitment to a state mental hospital and asked Bullock if he understood.

“Yes, your honor,” Bullock replied.

Earlier in the hearing Feeney announced the court’s selection of three expert witnesses who will weigh in on that insanity defense. They are doctors Anna Glezer and John Chamberlain of University of California, San Francisco, and Dr. John Greene, a private physician from Los Gatos.

Though Feeney did not set a trial date, he said that, given the time necessary for the medical examinations, the trial is likely to commence sometime around mid-September to early October.

A trial setting conference was scheduled for March 26 at 3 p.m.