A trial-by-judge has been scheduled to determine whether Hector Godoy-Standley is mentally competent to face charges of murder and carjacking.

On Monday Judge Christopher Wilson set July 25 for a court trial on whether the 22-year-old Eureka man, diagnosed as developmentally delayed, is capable of understanding court proceedings and aiding in his own defense.

Godoy-Standley is one of five defendants charged with murdering 20-year-old Tyson Eduardo Claros in December 2016. The motive, two defendants told investigators, was the belief that Claros molested the 3-year-old daughter of Godoy-Standley’s girlfriend, Catherine Lynn Suzanne Fode, 20. Claros was investigated but never charged.

For her part, “Catie” Fode has pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and agreed to testify against the other four, including her boyfriend and Brandon James Mitchell, the father of her daughter. Mitchell, 23, is accused of shooting Claros multiple times during a carjacking on state Highway 255 in Manila. Claros was left dying in the roadway as two defendants took off in the car he had been riding in, and three others in Godoy-Standley’s red Dodge Dart.

Also charged with murder and carjacking are Cesar Valenzuela-Campos, 24, and his 20-year-old girlfriend Tamara Nicole Thomson. Both are accused of packing handguns during the fatal incident. Valenzuela-Campos allegedly ordered eyewitness “Jane Doe,” who was driving the car Claros was riding in, out of the vehicle at gunpoint. And Thomson was in the back seat and reportedly pulled a gun and threatened to shoot Doe and Claros if Doe didn’t pull her car over.

Eight months after the arrest, a local psychiatrist diagnosed Godoy-Standley as developmentally disabled. He was sent to Napa State Hospital, where after a few months doctors declared him restored to competency and sent him back to Humboldt County. “Restored to competency” essentially means trained to understand what is happening in court.

Defense attorney David Celli is challenging the state’s finding, and on July 25 it will be up to Judge Wilson to decide. Both Celli and Deputy District Attorney Carolyn Schaffer have called experts to testify.

Because of legal issues with the testimony of co-defendants, separate trials are scheduled for Mitchell, Valenzuela-Campos and Thomson. Whether a fourth trial will be set for Godoy-Standley will depend on Wilson’s ruling.

Celli told the judge he expects the competency trial to take “no more than a day.”

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