Attias Faces 30 More Days At Patton Hospital
SANTA BARBARA – A former U.C. Santa Barbara student who killed four students during a rampage with his car more than 11 years ago could spend another 30 days at Patton State Mental Hospital.A Santa Barbara Judge ruled earlier this month to release David Attias from Patton Hospital and send him to an unlocked community facility instead. Senior Deputy District Attorney Paula Waldman told KEY News on Monday that Attias could spend another month at Patton Hospital before he’s sent to his first undisclosed location. Waldman says he could spent about 180 days there before he is sent to a second undisclosed location in Ventura County. The second location is close to a counseling facility run by CONREP, which stands for Conditional Release Program. Authorities there will monitor Attias from that point on until it’s determined that Attias is eligible for a full release.Attias could petition through the court in the future to reinstate his sanity and have all court controls removed.On the night of February 23rd, 2001, David Edward Attias drove his car into a crowd of students along Sabado Tarde Street in Isla Vista hitting five and killing four of them. Ruth Levy, Elie Isreal, Chris Divis and Nick Bourdakis died at the scene. A fifth person, Albert Levy, suffered life threatening injuries. He survived but suffered debilitating injuries. His sister Ruth is one of the four who died.During his deadly rampage that night Attias kept referring to himself as the “Angel of Death.” Witnesses reported that Attias even got out of his car and tried to stop people from helping those he had just run down.Attias would enter pleas of “Not Guilty By Reason Of Insanity” to all of the charges in 2001. However, the case went to trial and after 97 witnesses, 34 days and 7 days of deliberation, the jury found Attias guilty of four counts of murder. The same jurors found him “Not Guilty By Reason Of Insanity” during the sanity phase. He’s been locked up ever since.In a special hearing that lasted six days in June this year, Attias took the stand in his own behalf and experts who evaluated him testified about his mental condition 11 years later. Tricia Bordakis, a parent of one of the victims, told KEY News during the hearings that she believes Attias is still not fit for release, ” This is way too early. As far as I know, he should serve out what a prison term should be and Judge Adams said at that time it would be 60 years to life is what he would have gotten.”During the court hearings, Waldman argued that Attias still poses a danger and that the court should not release him.Stay tuned to KEY News for the latest information on this developing story.
