WALNUT CREEK — Practically 5 years after he shot and killed his longtime girlfriend, triggering a short manhunt and a police standoff that ended along with his arrest, 43-year-old Gregory Prokopowicz has pleaded responsible to homicide, courtroom data present.
However the case is way from over; via a take care of prosecutors, Prokopowicz additionally pleaded not responsible by motive of madness and is on trial earlier than a superior courtroom choose, who is anticipated to rule in late Could or June whether or not Prokopowicz will go to jail or a hospital for psychological well being care. Prokopowicz is subsequent due in courtroom on Friday, and can seem for 2 hearings in Could, data present.
Prokopowicz’s lawyer didn’t reply to requests for remark.
In April 2017, Prokopowicz was arrested and charged with murdering Roselyn Policarpio, a Walnut Creek resident who had dated Prokopowicz for 2 years and advised members of the family she was planning to interrupt up with him that day. They suspected he had been bodily abusive in direction of her; one member of the family described him as “obsessed.”
Police say Prokopowicz shot and killed Policarpio about 1:40 p.m. on April 27, 2017, on First Avenue in Walnut Creek. After the homicide, Prokopowicz advised Policarpio’s son over the telephone that he’d killed her. He fled the realm, and was positioned that night in Martinez, the place police initiated what grew to become a standoff that lasted 19 hours and ended with Prokopowicz’s arrest.
Prokopowicz is within the Martinez Detention Facility and being held with out bail, courtroom data present.
Below state legislation, if a defendant pleads not responsible by motive of madness, she or he will be tried on the madness declare solely after guilt has been established. To be discovered not responsible, the protection should show she or he didn’t perceive the character of his act or wasn’t in a position to distinguish proper from fallacious.
In the event that they’re discovered not responsible by motive of madness, they are often held in a psychological well being establishment for the size of time that they'd in any other case be incarcerated for the offense, and even longer in the event that they’re discovered to be a considerable hazard to others. They'll additionally apply for an analysis yearly to indicate that they’ve recovered from their psychological sickness and petition for launch.
Such defenses are uncommon in Contra Costa, with some notable exceptions: in 2017, Discovery Bay resident William Shultz launched a failed madness protection and was sentenced to 30 years to life in jail for murdering 9-year-old Jordan Almgren, his pal’s youthful brother, throughout a sleepover.
Final yr, Contra Costa prosecutors agreed to a plea deal that despatched 35-year-old Ryan McGovern to a psychological establishment for a minimum of 22 years, for killing Mark Cancryn throughout a combat in Antioch.
In an analogous 2019 plea, a safety guard named Hakim Madjour was despatched to a psychological well being ward after being discovered not responsible by motive of madness within the homicide of Harry Swayne, a 60-year-old colleague. Madjour had been recognized with schizophrenia and ran out of remedy shortly earlier than the homicide.