Warden man's insanity hearing begins

Defendant charged with attacking his mother

EPHRATA - A three-day insanity hearing for a man arrested in 2004 for allegedly kidnapping, assaulting and raping his mother in her Warden home began Wednesday in Grant County Superior Court.

Gilberto Guzman, 30, of Warden, pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity on Nov. 27, 2007, to charges of kidnapping, assault, rape, felony harassment and attempted first-degree murder.

Guzman allegedly tied up his mother, Delfina Moreno, then 50, of Warden, and held her hostage for three days in the home they shared, attacking her several times and sexually assaulting her.

Guzman's public defense attorneys, Karen Lindholdt and Michael Prince, filed a renewed motion for an acquittal hearing on Feb. 26. The court apparently never ruled on the original motion, court documents indicate.

Lindholdt said if Guzman is found not guilty by reason of insanity, he would stay at a mental facility at Eastern State Hospital indefinitely, possibly for his entire life.

"Our goal is to not set Gilbert free," she said.

Grant County Prosecutor John Knodell said the only question remaining if Guzman meets the state's legal test for insanity.

Through a translator, Moreno answered attorneys' questions Wednesday with her adult daughter by her side for support.

The women later expressed concerns over the accuracy of some of the translations, but the proceedings were not stopped.

Moreno said her son had been in a mental facility and in rehabilitation for drug or alcohol abuse before the alleged incident. She also said in about 2002 or 2003, he reportedly heard voices telling him to harm his family, but not Moreno directly.

"I would like to see him where he would be better," she said.

In Spokane psychologist Mark Mays' most recent report on Guzman, Mays explained he felt handicapped to reach a final opinion, Lindholdt said. Mays wasn't allowed to speak to the victim, Lindholdt added.

Five mental health reports were done on Guzman throughout the nearly four years of the case, according to court documents.

Guzman was recently diagnosed with an unspecified psychotic disorder, meaning he has a lack of contact with reality, wrote Mays in a February psychological assessment of Guzman.

"There appears to be little question that he (Guzman) has had, beginning in the late 1990s, a mental disease or defect," Mays stated in his report.

Mays reiterated the opinions of two other doctors that Guzman should be diagnosed with a "Psychotic Disorder NOS" (not otherwise specified)."

Lindholdt said Wednesday she would later call Guzman's former attorney Robert E. Schiffner and two doctors from Eastern State Hospital to the stand.

Guzman is now on his third attorney as two past attorneys are no longer working on the case.

Attorney Brian Gwinn reportedly couldn't communicate with Guzman and another attorney, Schiffner, alleged Guzman wasn't able to help with trial preparations, court documents state.

In court documents filed in November, Schiffner said he believed he would be committing malpractice to go forward because "he (Guzman) is clearly not capable of assisting me at this time."

"On many occasions, Mr. Guzman has refused to come down to meet with me when I come to visit him," Schiffner stated in court documents.

He also stated it appeared Guzman had some sort of mental problem because his eyes were glazed over and his breathing was "very shallow and almost labored."

He wrote that Guzman's alleged behavior in a visitation room caused the hair on the back of his neck to rise.

"If I have not been accompanied by a jailer, I would have been worried about my personal safety," Schiffner wrote.