‘Medical report’ reset for woman accused of killing Vaca Police officer – The Vacaville Reporter

A Solano County Superior Court judge has postponed the mental health evaluation of the woman accused of killing Vacaville police officer Matthew Bowen while under the influence of alcohol in July.

On August 15, Judge Wendy Getty received a letter from Andrea Shelley, a clinical and forensic psychologist from San Francisco, informing the court that Serena CJ Rodriguez had failed to participate in a previously scheduled online interview to determine her competency to stand trial.

Getty was scheduled to hear Shelley's “1368 medical report” on Monday in Department 8 of the Justice Center in Fairfield. Official court records did not indicate why Rodriguez, who is being held without bail in the Solano County Jail in Fairfield, missed her appointment with Shelley.

Assistant Public Defender Dan Messner represented Rodriguez during the morning hearing, and Assistant District Attorney Eric Charm appeared on behalf of Assistant District Attorney Paul Sequeira, who is leading the prosecution.

When the judge learned that Shelley had not interviewed Rodriguez and therefore could not assess her sanity, he again referred the psychologist to examine the defendant. The judge requested a “face-to-face meeting” between the two if possible and rescheduled the “medical report” for 8:30 a.m. on Sept. 17, according to court documents.

For the time being, the criminal proceedings against 24-year-old Rodriguez remain suspended.

Based on the findings of the report, a judge may reopen the case or, typically, order the defendant to be committed to one of five state hospitals until he or she regains composure.

According to the law, specifically Section 1368 of the Penal Code, a defendant who is found mentally incompetent and unable to defend himself may not be tried. However, once the defendant is found to be mentally competent, further legal action may be taken against him, including a jury trial.

During an arraignment scheduled for July 22 in Department 1, Rodriguez, shackled and clad in a prison jumpsuit, with his head freshly shaved, sat at the defense table with his back to the gallery, which was filled to standing room with dozens of Vacaville police officers, other department employees, sheriff's deputies, Bowen's relatives and District Attorney Krishna Abrams.

Messner then appeared to tell Judge Jeffrey C. Kauffman that his client denied all allegations and amendments. However, Rodriguez began to interrupt him and asked for a private attorney-client meeting. The judge allowed this, and Rodriguez and Messner left the courtroom and went into an adjacent smaller room. Kauffman returned to his office.

Nearly half an hour later, Kauffman called the lawyers into his office to discuss a “Marsden hearing” – a defendant's request to fire a court-appointed attorney on the grounds that the attorney is not providing adequate assistance or that there is a conflict between the attorney and the defendant.

The judge cleared the courtroom to hear Rodriguez's plea.

At about 2:30 p.m., everyone returned to the courtroom and Kauffman denied Rodriguez's request for a new attorney. Messner requested that the criminal proceedings be stayed until the “medical report” was ready. Kauffman stayed the proceedings and set August 19 as the deadline for the medical report.

Rodriguez's hearing on July 22 took place one day before Bowen's memorial service at the Father's House in Vacaville.

According to the criminal complaint filed July 15, Rodriguez, a 5-foot-1, 100-pound Auburn resident, is charged with first-degree murder. Special circumstances apply because she is reportedly a convicted felon.

In addition, Rodriguez faces three aggravated charges as part of the murder charge: killing a police officer in the line of duty, a special allegation of using a deadly weapon, namely their vehicle, and using a deadly or dangerous weapon, namely a motor vehicle.

Bowen, 32, a motorcycle police officer, was struck just before 11 a.m. on July 11 when one vehicle collided with another at the corner of Leisure Town Road and Orange Drive in Vacaville. Several officials said online that he died at 3:30 p.m. at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Vacaville.

The California Highway Patrol issued a press release later in the day stating that Rodriguez was allegedly under the influence of drugs when she was arrested after the crash. She fled on foot but was stopped by a passerby and booked into the Solano County Jail on suspicion of murder and driving under the influence causing injury and/or death.

Bowen, who joined the department in June 2023, leaves behind a wife and two sons, according to a statement from Vacaville police. Both children are under the age of 3, according to a family friend who also noted that Bowen lived in Dixon. He also leaves behind his parents and a brother. He was previously a member of the Concord Police Department.