A Marin County Superior Court judge ordered a 1970s murder suspect to undergo an evaluation to see if he’s mentally competent to stand trial.
Investigators arrested Michael Eugene Mullen, 76, in August when they linked him to the 1973 murder of San Rafael resident Nina Fischer. He was extradited from Idaho and booked into Marin County Jail where he remains in custody.
Mullen was scheduled to enter a plea at the Wednesday hearing, but his defense attorney, Peter Kuykendall, requested a competency evaluation. Judge Geoffrey Howard accepted the request and suspended the case’s criminal proceedings.
Deputies brought Mullen on a wheelchair into the courtroom. His next hearing was scheduled for Feb. 5.
Kuykendall and prosecutor Leon Kousharian declined to comment after the Wednesday hearing.
Marin County sheriff’s detectives used DNA evidence to determine that Mullen, a former Sonoma County resident, is the murder suspect. Fischer, 31, was found bound and slain at her home on Point San Pedro Road.
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