Mental status in fatal shooting under review

A Canyon Country woman who in October pleaded no contest to seconddegree murder in the shooting death of her brother two years ago was insane at the time of the incident, a court ruled Wednesday.

Jessica Paige Greenback, 28, appeared in San Fernando Superior Court, where she was found to be insane at the time of the incident in February 2015.

“Today, she was found insane at the time of the crime,” Paul Eakins, spokesman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office told The Signal Wednesday.

“She will return to court Feb. 13 for a status update and evaluation under PC 1026(b),” he said, referring to mental evaluation.

Under that section of California’s penal code, before any order is made directing a defendant to be committed to a state hospital, the court must first order the “community program director” to evaluate the defendant.

Greenback pleaded second-degree murder, no contest to after she was ordered to stand trial for the second degree murder charge in November 2016.

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.

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