Court proceedings continue for the man accused of double murder in Arbuckle, but the wheels of justice are turning slowly.
Martin Christian Ehrke, the 53-year-old accused of killing Kimberly Lynn Taylor, 39, and Jessica Lynn Mazak, 25, at his family’s farm on January 25, 2018, continues to plead his innocence as his Public Defender, Brandon Williams, pursues a possible defense based on Ehrke’s alleged mental disorder.
After multiple starts and stops in the criminal proceedings, Colusa County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey A. Thompson on Monday gave Williams the green light to pursue expert witnesses on Ehrke’s behalf.
Despite his lengthy stint in a state mental hospital for issues that were first raised in June of 2019, Ehrke has officially been declared competent to stand trial.
Ehrke’s defense-commissioned psychiatrist, however, claims Ehrke suffers from a neurological disorder, according to previous court testimony.
Meanwhile, a Miranda hearing has been scheduled for Aug. 26, in which the judge could determine if statements Ehrke made to law enforcement after he was detained should be admitted as evidence.
Because the murder case has been ongoing for more than four years, Thompson said he would need to review the “quite lengthly” transcript and video of Ehrke’s interview on the evening Taylor’s body was found inside a freezer and Mazak’s body was discovered submerged in a nearby pond on his family’s Hillgate Road property.
Colusa County Sheriff’s Deputies made the gruesome discovery not long after another of Ehrke’s roommates returned home and discovered blood inside the home and the women gone.
Autopsies determined the cause of death to both women was blunt force trauma, according to the coroner. ■