Cabral to be tried

Two experts have said he was insane at the time of his alleged offense, but Reny Cabral (pictured) will be tried for attempted murder nonetheless. Cabral is the 23-year-old Orland man profiled here last week (“Breakdown in mental-health care,” by Leslie Layton) who, during a psychotic episode last January in the Glenn County Jail, rammed his head against the wall, broke his neck and is now a quadriplegic.

At a hearing Friday (Dec. 14) in Willows, Glenn County District Attorney Robert Holzapfel declined to drop charges against Cabral, saying he had no choice but to follow the law.

Cabral’s attorney, Denny Latimer of Chico, has said he believes his client can show that he did not intend to kill his former girlfriend, Torrie Gonzales, when he twice choked her into unconsciousness at his parents’ Orland home on the night of Jan. 6.

Cabral was having a mental breakdown at the time and hearing voices. Three days earlier, Chico police had found him naked except for plastic wrap in Bidwell Park and taken him to a mental-health facility.

Cabral has sued Glenn County for failing to provide treatment for his mental illness when he was arrested. His criminal trial is set for March 24.