Deliberations resume in sanity trial of man who killed grandparents in Palm Desert
Jury deliberations resumed today in the sanity trial of a 37-year-old man who gunned down his octogenarian grandparents in Palm Desert, in what his attorney contends were acts of a mentally disturbed person, but the prosecution maintains were outright murders.
Deliberations began Jan. 11 after a few days of testimony in the mental competency trial of Frank Scott Castro III, who pleaded guilty on Dec. 4, 2023, to two counts of first-degree murder and admitted to a special-circumstance allegation of perpetrating multiple killings and sentence-enhancing gun and great bodily injury allegations.
The admissions came midway through the guilt phase of his trial. The defense is arguing that Castro was mentally ill when he perpetrated the killings.
If jurors determine he was sane, Castro would face a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. If jurors rule he was insane, he'll be referred to a state mental hospital for an undetermined period.
Jurors returned to deliberate at around 9 a.m. Tuesday at the Larson Justice Center in Indio, according to Riverside County District Attorney's Office spokesman John Hall. On Jan. 15, they went on a week-long break due to the unavailability of one of the jurors.
The defendant fatally shot Frank Castro Sr., 83, and Carolina Castro, 81, at their home in the 43000 block of West Calle Las Brisas on Sept. 11, 2019.
When sheriff's patrol deputies were sent to investigate reports of gunfire at the residence, they encountered Castro standing out front. He later told detectives that he'd been awake 72 hours straight after consuming methamphetamine.
Defense attorney David Kaloyanides told jurors that testimony from two psychiatric experts was critical, focusing on whether his client had been able to distinguish between right and wrong.
"It's important to realize the two witnesses had some differing opinions about how they reached their conclusion. But their conclusion was the same,'' Kaloyanides said. "Mr. Castro was not legally sane. He was suffering from a mental disease."
One doctor said Castro had symptoms resembling bipolar disorder with psychotic features, similar to schizophrenia, according to the defense.
Deputy District Attorney Samantha Paixao told jurors there was no question about the defendant's state of mind.
"Sometimes there are no reasons apart from (the person) just made a despicable, awful decision,'' Paixao said. "And the defendant made that horrible, despicable decision to kill his grandparents. It wasn't just kill, right? He shot them in the head. He shot his grandfather three times and his grandmother three times."
She asked jurors to consider every step the defendant took, from when he chose the lighter of two handguns he had at his home, to when he shot each grandparent, aiming at their heads before calling 911. Paixao said Castro exhibited no prior signs of mental distress.
The prosecutor noted that the final opinions of the experts weren't as consistent as the defense submitted, and she concluded that Castro killed his grandparents for no reason, and no explanation could justify it, not even the threat of future harm that he claimed.
Castro is being held without bail at the John J. Benoit Detention Center in Indio.
He has no documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.
