RIVERSIDE, CA — With doubts about his competency to stand trial, a 25-year-old probationer accused of fatally beating his father at the victim’s Riverside home was ordered Tuesday to undergo a battery of psychiatric evaluations to determine his mental fitness.
Jair Armando Vazquez allegedly killed 62-year-old Armando Vazquez in 2021.
The defendant is charged with first-degree murder.
During a pretrial hearing Tuesday at the Riverside Hall of Justice, Riverside County Superior Court Judge Joshlyn Pulliam received defense motions regarding the need for a mental health evaluation, and she agreed, directing the county Department of Behavioral Health to assign doctors to carry out assessments.
Pulliam scheduled a hearing for July 14 at the Riverside Hall of Justice to confirm which specialists will handle the matter.
Vazquez is being held in lieu of $1 million bail at the Robert Presley Jail.
According to Riverside police Officer Ryan Railsback, about 2:30 p.m. on Sept. 14, 2021, the defendant was involved in an unspecified confrontation with his dad while at the victim’s residence in the 8600 block of Arlington Avenue, near Lake Street.
“The preliminary investigation revealed the victim’s son … physically assaulted his father, then fled in the victim’s vehicle,” Railsback said.
He said that Vazquez’s mother, whose identity was not disclosed, returned home to find her husband bleeding and unconscious on the living room floor.
Paramedics arrived within a few minutes and pronounced the victim dead at the scene.
Railsback said homicide detectives quickly identified Jair Vazquez as the alleged assailant and uncovered information indicating that he was in Newport Beach. Police in the coastal city were requested to assist, and they located the defendant that night on Coronado Street, where he was taken into custody without incident.
Vazquez has a traffic-related misdemeanor conviction from 2019, but no felonies, according to court records.
