Woman pleads no contest in murder case

A Canyon Country woman accused of killing her brother two years ago pleaded no contest Wednesday to seconddegree murder.

Jessica Paige Greenback, 25, appeared Wednesday in San Fernando Superior Court where she entered her plea, Ricardo Santiago, spokesman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said.

“She pleaded no contest today to second-degree murder,” he told The Signal Wednesday.

Similarly, Greenback is scheduled to appear for a court hearing to determine her sanity at the time of her killing.

“Her sanity phase trial begins on Nov. 30,” Santiago said Wednesday.

In both cases, the sanity of each woman accused of murder was called into question.

Greenback was arrested Feb. 8, 2015, on suspicion of murder and has remained in custody with bail set at $6.15 million.

A criminal complaint filed by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office alleges she shot and murdered her brother, then tried to murder her father and a family friend in the apartment the family shared on Danielson Street in Canyon Country.

The complaint against Greenback also includes a charge of child abuse for allegedly exposing a child, her younger sister, to the shootings.

In March 2015, Greenback’s attorney “raised a doubt about her mental health,” the prosecutor at the time said.

Greenback was transferred to the Patton State Hospital in San Bernardino for psychological assessment. The mental health assessment was ordered under section 1368 of the California Penal Code, the prosecutor said.

She was declared incompetent to stand trial in late April 2015, but by Oct. 13, 2015, her criminal case resumed “when it was found she was competent to assist in her defense,” District Attorney’s Office spokesman Ricardo Santiago said.

In November 2016, Greenback was ordered to stand trial for murder.