Ex-Mental Patient Faces Trial in Cellmate’s Death

About a year and a half ago, a Ventura County jail inmate who allegedly beat his cellmate to death was found legally insane and unfit to stand trial for murder.

But Alan J. Schaffer, newly discharged from a state mental hospital where his schizophrenic condition was treated, returned Wednesday to Ventura County Municipal Court to face the charge.

During a brief preliminary hearing after which Schaffer was ordered to stand trial, one of the deputies who responded to an emergency call in Schaffer’s cell testified about what he heard and saw on the night of Aug. 13, 1995.

“We saw inmate Schaffer standing at the door,” Deputy David Schwieder recalled. “He said, ‘He is the enemy. He is on the other side. I am a special agent. I am from special forces.’ ”

Schaffer was referring to cellmate Thomas Pollizzi Jr., who was “lying on his back, moaning and groaning,” the deputy said. The 57-year-old victim was bleeding, and blood was splattered on the wall and sheets.

Authorities had checked the cell during a routine head count earlier in the evening, he said. But at 2 a.m., they knew something was wrong when a buzzer screeched into the jail’s communications center.

“We heard a lot of yelling and screaming,” Schwieder said.

As the deputy spoke, the curly haired Schaffer, dressed in blue jail clothes, stared blankly ahead in the courtroom, twitching and shaking occasionally during portions of the hearing.

Over the last 17 months, the 29-year-old transient, who was originally from Sacramento, has been treated for schizophrenia at Patton State Hospital in San Bernardino County.

In March, doctors determined that Schaffer was ready to be discharged back to the Ventura County Jail, where he is now being held on $250,000 bail.

“Mr. Schaffer has made significant progress while gaining increased insight into the court process,” his doctors wrote in a discharge summary. “He continues to show some delusional thoughts. However, those thoughts do not impede competency.”

At the time of the 1995 assault, Schaffer was awaiting trial for allegedly repeatedly violating his probation since pleading guilty to car theft.

Schaffer’s cellmate, Pollizzi, was serving a 300-day jail sentence for stalking his former girlfriend.

The Palm Springs resident had been arrested by local authorities for harassing and threatening Jeri Reiser at her home in Riverside County and for harassing her family, including her son, Glen M. Reiser, an attorney in Ventura County.

After his death, Pollizzi’s family accused Reiser of using his relationship with Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury to get Pollizzi arrested.

The family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the two attorneys and the county in federal court. Last month, Reiser and Bradbury were dropped from that lawsuit. The case against the county is still pending.

During Wednesday’s preliminary hearing for Schaffer, Medical Examiner Ronald O’Halloran testified that Pollizzi died as a result of the injuries he sustained in his cell.

Pollizzi was initially hospitalized with cuts, bruises and a lacerated head on Aug. 14, 1995. After he was returned to the jail, his condition diminished and he was sent back to the Ventura County Medical Center, where he died Sept. 1, O’Halloran said.

The cause of death was a blood clot in his leg that traveled up to his chest and blocked the blood supply to his heart, the coroner testified.

On cross-examination, defense attorney Jorge Alvarado challenged that conclusion and questioned whether Pollizzi’s history of heart trouble, diabetes and two strokes could have caused the blood clot.

“From my review of the records, no,” O’Halloran responded. “The assault initiated the chain of events that created the blood clot and caused him to die.”

Municipal Court Judge Art Gutierrez found sufficient evidence to bind Schaffer over for trial in Superior Court. An arraignment on the murder charge is set for May 22.