SANTA PAULA : Therapy Ordered for Murder Suspect

A 23-year-old transient accused of killing his former boss last month is unable to understand the murder charge he faces and will go to a state mental hospital for therapy, a Ventura County Superior Court judge ruled Tuesday.

Jose Luis Gonzalez, accused of shooting Santa Paula ranch foreman Rosario de la Cruz four times in the chest, will be incarcerated in a psychiatric facility until he can assist in his own defense, Deputy Public Defender Douglas W. Daily said.

Examinations by two psychiatrists found Gonzalez “subject to psychotic fluctuations, delusional and severely mentally ill,” Daily said.

Deputy Dist. Atty. James D. Ellison said that Gonzalez has a history of mental illness and that he alternates between thinking he is John Lennon and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

“His statements to the doctors indicated he is delusional,” Ellison said outside court.

De la Cruz, 47, named Gonzalez as the killer moments before he died at his Santa Paula home May 14, according to police reports. No motive was given for the slaying, but investigators said Gonzalez had worked for De la Cruz before the shooting.

Judge Lawrence Storch made the ruling Tuesday after considering the medical reports. A placement hearing was scheduled July 13 to determine where Gonzalez will be sent.