Veteran ordered to state hospital over Woodside shovel attack

Milo Mcintosh Imrie, a former Marine infantryman in Afghanistan, was ordered by a San Mateo County judge to not more than three years at Napa State Hospital in connection with December 2012 incident in Woodside that led to charges of assault with a deadly weapon (a shovel) and attempting to disarm a police officer.

Mr. Imrie, 24, had pleaded not guilty to the charges in December and has been in county jail on $25,000 bail. Reports in April from two court-appointed doctors concluded that Mr. Imrie is not competent to stand trial, prosecutors said.

Mr. Imrie’s attorney, Geoff Carr, said his client suffers from post traumatic stress. While in Afghanistan, where his job included clearing improvised explosive devices (IEDs) from roadsides, Mr. Imrie did not detect an IED that subsequently exploded and killed an interpreter and caused serious injury to another Marine, which is the source of his psychological distress, Mr. Carr said.

The mission at Napa State Hospital, according to its website, is to “provide hope to adults with a serious mental illness and support each patient to achieve personal recovery.” Mr. Imrie has agreed to involuntary administration of medications while at the hospital, according to a report from District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe.

Being declared incompetent in the present does not infer incompetence to stand trial in the future, nor does it imply insanity in the defendant, prosecutors said. Adjudicating the case is Superior Court Criminal Presiding Judge Jonathan Karesh.

In the Dec. 12 incident, Mr. Imrie allegedly threatened violence to himself and to his cousin in his cousin’s Woodside home, prosecutors said. Deputies arrested Mr. Imrie at the Menlo Country Club, where he had fled after allegedly hitting his cousin with a shovel, prosecutors said.

By Dave Boyce

By Dave Boyce

By Dave Boyce