OAKLAND — A judge on Friday ruled the man behind the 2012 Oikos University shooting rampage, which killed seven people and wounded three more, is mentally competent to stand trial, according to a prosecutor in the case.
The trial was put on hold indefinitely in 2015 after Alameda County Superior Court Judge Gloria Rhynes determined the defendant in the case, 48-year-old One Goh of Alameda, had a mental illness that prevented him from rationally assisting his attorneys with his defense. The new ruling means his trial can now proceed. He is scheduled to appear in court Wednesday.
That is good news for the loved ones of the victims in the case, including Efanye Chibuko, whose wife, Doris, was one of the people Goh killed at the small Oakland nursing college on April 2, 2012. Reached by phone Friday, he said he had not yet heard that Goh would now stand trial, but said he was ready.
“We just need to put this behind us so we all can move on with our lives,” he said.
In her 2015 ruling, Rhynes told families of the victims that justice had not been denied but merely delayed. Under California law, Rhynes’ decision mandated Goh enter into a conservatorship, and that Goh be reviewed annually to asses his mental health status.
Goh is charged with seven counts of murder, three counts of premeditated attempted murder and other enhancements for committing a murder during a kidnapping and committing multiple murders at once. He confessed to the killings, saying he wants to die, in part, because of his actions.
At the same time, the paranoid schizophrenic has said he wants to plead not guilty because he believes the deaths and injuries were the fault of the Oikos University administration and faculty, who he claims conspired against him. He believed staff bugged his home, tracked his vehicle and alienated him from other students in the nursing program.
On April 2, 2012, Goh had gone to the campus to demand a refund for his $6,000 tuition, saying that if he was denied, he was going to kill a particular administrator and himself. When he was told the administrator was not on campus, Goh opened fire, shooting the receptionist and nine of his former classmates, including many who were his friends before he dropped out of the program in the fall of 2011.
Six women and one man were killed.
Goh could face the death penalty. He has said in the past that he does not believe he is mentally ill and wants a trial that will lead to his execution, though representatives for the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office have not announced the office’s intention to seek the state’s most severe sentence.
