Following a two-day trial, a judge has decided that a driver suspected of killing three unsheltered people in 2021 on a sidewalk near City College is mentally incompetent to face criminal charges.
In the wake of the decision, what to do with Craig Martin Voss, now 74, will be subject of hearings in February before San Diego Superior Court Judge Runston Maino.
Voss has been under house arrest in his South Park home where his wife has been taking care of him as he has developed congestive heart failure the last few years.
Voss did appear in court on Jan. 22 and 23 after waiving a jury trial, leaving Maino to issue a ruling. His criminal charges of three counts of vehicular manslaughter and injuring seven others remain suspended.
The witnesses included his primary care physician, Voss’s wife, and two psychologists. Most of them testified on Jan. 22, which was the day of the massive flooding in San Diego in which nearly three inches of rain fell. The courtroom was almost empty of spectators.
Normally, people found to be mentally incompetent to stand trial are committed to a state mental hospital, but Voss is in declining health from congestive heart failure. It is more likely he will continue to remain under house arrest until his situation changes. He is barred from driving.
Voss’s attorney asked that he be found incompetent while Deputy District Attorney Cally Bright urged the judge to find him mentally competent.
Voss was driving March 15, 2021 in a rainstorm and as he drove into a tunnel at 9 a.m. on B Street west of Park Boulevard, he drove up onto the sidewalk hitting 10 unsheltered people, some of whom were in tents.
Randy Ferris, 65, Walter Jones, 61, and Rodney Diffendal, 40, were killed, and seven others were hurt. San Diego Police and paramedics responded, taking many to the hospital.
Read past articles on Craig Voss:
Mental competency trial set for driver who killed three outside City College
Driver who killed three unsheltered people in 2021 still has no preliminary hearing
