VISTA – A Carlsbad man convicted of murdering his elderly mother was committed yesterday to a state mental hospital in a case in which he was found to be insane when he committed the crime.
James Bryant Essick, 50, will be transferred from the Vista Jail to Patton State Hospital in San Bernardino for a term of 26 years to life.
However, Essick, who has a history of mental illness, could ask to be released if doctors conclude he has regained his sanity.
Essick beat Betty Dodge to death at her townhome in Carlsbad on Aug. 14, 2003.
At the time, Essick was a millionaire from an inheritance from his late father and had sought refuge in his 77-year-old mother's home and was delusional, fearing that people were gaining control of his body.
The relationship was strained, with Essick blaming Dodge, a retired interior designer, for his psychological issues. He constantly cursed at her, according to testimony.
In the days before the slaying, Dodge asked her son to move out. She was killed minutes after a phone conversation with a social worker in which Dodge expressed her frustration with her son's reluctance to leave, according to testimony.
After killing his mother, Essick drove to the Carlsbad police station in bloody clothes and admitted his guilt, prosecutor Robert Stein told the trial jury.
Essick pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity and was convicted of first-degree murder July 7. In the second phase of the trial, the same panel deadlocked 11-1 to find him sane, causing the judge to declare a mistrial.
A second jury was selected and the sanity phase was retried in February. That jury on March 15 found that Essick was insane because he did not understand his actions could lead to his mother's death.
Before Superior Court Judge Timothy Casserly ordered Essick to the state hospital, Dodge's relatives asked that he never be released.
“She did not deserve the kind of death she had,” said Alvin Johnson, Dodge's ex-husband. “If she were here today, she would insist that he be incarcerated so he won't harm other people.”
In a letter read in court, daughter Christine Gardiner called her brother a “bully” who, despite a history of mental illness, understood that he killed their mother. “I feel the jury did not get it. My brother got away with murder,” she said in a letter read by Shari Jensen, Dodge's niece.
Judge Casserly said the law dictated Essick's sentence.
“This is one of those cases where there is nothing the criminal justice system can do to fix the situation,” Casserly said. “My hands are tied.”
In an interview, defense attorney John Cotsirilos said his client is remorseful and is relieved he avoided prison.
“He's horrified by what he did,” the lawyer said. “He believed he was going to be killed in prison.”
Essick will be treated for his illness and within a year can ask to be released if doctors determine he has regained his sanity, the lawyer said. That would require another trial to determine if Essick should be released, Cotsirilos said.
Jose Jimenez: (760) 737-7568; jose.jimenez@uniontrib.com
