A Palm Desert woman who attempted to kill her sister and almost ran over her mother will be retried on felony charges, which jurors were unable to decide whether she was sane at the time, prosecutors announced Friday.
An Indio jury in the sanity phase of trial for 43-year-old Erin Leah Richey returned verdicts Tuesday, finding her mentally competent when she committed a series of violent acts in December 2018, but the panel was split on her psychological condition when she perpetrated a separate attack.
Riverside County Superior Court Judge Dean Benjamini declared a mistrial on the two felony counts, for which she was previously found guilty. During a hearing at the Larson Justice Center, prosecutors informed the judge that the District Attorney’s Office will proceed with retrying Richey on the two charges — arson and assault.
Benjamini scheduled a retrial status hearing for July 1 and tentatively set the sanity retrial for Sept. 16.
Richey remains held without bail at the Smith Correctional Facility in Banning.
The mental competency trial lasted less than a week and followed a two-week criminal trial stemming from attacks that occurred in the 77500 block of Mountain View Avenue and the 77330 block of Missouri Drive. The defendant was convicted and determined mentally competent on charges of attempted murder, felony assault, auto theft, being in possession of an explosive device, two counts of animal cruelty and a sentence-enhancing great bodily injury allegation.
According to sheriff’s investigators, on Dec. 15, 2018, Richey struck her sister, whose identity was not released, on the head with a mallet “numerous times” and also attempted to slash her with a knife during an unspecified confrontation.
The defendant then took one of the victim’s vehicles, and as she was speeding away, attempted to run over her mother, also not identified, who owned the property where Richey was staying in a trailer, investigators said.
The sister was hospitalized with non-life-threatening head injuries. Their mother was not hurt.
Richey was arrested later that same day while driving along Avenida Caballeros in Palm Springs.
The arson charge resulted from an attack reported two days earlier on Missouri Drive, where Richey set fire to a carport, causing burn injuries to a woman residing at the location. The victim was not identified in court documents.
The animal abuse charges were filed because the defendant set her cat, Mabel, on fire and sprayed ant and roach killer into her mother’s dog Mia’s eyes before throwing the pooch over an eight-foot wall.
Court records show Richey has prior convictions for assault and driving under the influence, both misdemeanors.