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Man Ruled Insane in Case of Threats to Valley JudgeBy IIAURY HUMPHREYSA 55-year-old Sun Valley man charged with threatening a Municipal Court Judge was declared insane yesterday at a sanity hearing held before Superior Court Judge Harry Peetris in Van Nuys.Detmar France Conley, a former Dept, of Motor Vehi cles examiner, of 11326 Wentworth St. was ordered sent to the state mental facility at Atasca-dero for treatment.C o u r 1 p r oceedings against him on the charge he sent threatening letters to Judge Joseph Di Giuseppe have been suspended until such time as Conley is able to understand the nature of the charges against him and cooperate with his counsel, Frank Salter of Sherman Oaks, in his own defense.2 Cases PendingConley was arrested on Nov. 22 at his home after J udge Di Giuseppeshowed local police and district attorney’s officials six allegedly threatening letters signed D. Conley” lie had received.At the time of his arrest, Conley had two misdemeanor cases pending before Judge Di Giuseppe. A variety of charges was alleged, including disturbing the peace, making an annoying telephone call, threatening to expose the infirmities of another individual and committing a public nuisance.Conley previously hadbeen sent to Superior Court Dept. 95 for psychiatric evaluation and had been found legally sane by four doctors. However, one had found him to be suffering from ‘‘paranoid psychosis” and another described his condition as “deteriorating.Testify on InsanityAt Conley's arraignment in Superior Court on the threat charge, Judge Rosenthal ordered two more doctors to examine him.Those two, Jaime B. Amselem of Los Angeles and George Y. Abe of Metropolitan State Hospital,Norwalk, both testified yesterday that in their opinion Conley was legallyinsane.Dr. Amselem diagnosed the defendant as “ex-t r emely paranoid” and said Conley could become harmful toward others.”“It appears the defendant’s son’s death in 1968 has been an aggravating factor in the defendant’s mental illness,” Dr. Amse-1cm added. The boy reportedly died from a football injury.‘ ' The defendant has paranoid delusions manifested by belief in telepathy and reincarnation,” Dr. Abe stated.Offers No Argument“It is my opinion he was insane at the time of commission of the offense and is prestntlv (legally) insane, He has a schizoph-r e n i c me ntal illness, which may cause him to be a menace to the health and safety of others,” the doctor added.Proscecuting Dep. Disk Atty. Bill Melcher offered no argument, but relied instead on Judge Peetris, who presided over sanity hearings for several years as presiding judge in Dept. 95, drawing His own conclusions from the psychiatrists’ testimony.Salter, who had entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity on behalf of Conley and over the defendant’s objections, argued that the letters con-lained “qualified threats only.”“Hurt No One”Salter said Conley, who sent his letters on a letterhead reading “The Church of the Spiritual Kingdom of God,” “claims to be a spiritual medium.”“He has never hurt anyone and in any matter been violent,” Salter argued. “Maybe 50 years from now someone will say Delmar Conley had the word. Pie just likes to write letters.”T he misde meanor charges, stemming from incidents and letters allegedly sent persons between autumn 1971 and last summer, remain pending in Municipal Court until Conley is adjudged to have regained his sanity.
Newspaper Details
Van Nuys News
Van Nuys, California, US
Tue, Mar 13, 1973
Page 27
Full Page
Clipped by
Akron S.
OH, USA 06 Apr 2019
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