Mental illness used by defense in bunker slayings

At a preliminary hearing for a West Covina man charged in the brutal slayings of a teenaged couple out in San Bernardino,  Collin Lee McGlaughlin's attorney called his client mentally unstable and unfit for trial.

Here's the story from the San Bernardino Sun. Testimony continues today in the case:

Just weeks before he was arrested in connection with the shotgun killings of 19-year-old Christopher Cody Thompson and his girlfriend, Bodhisattva "Bodhi" Sherzer-Potter, 16, Collin Lee McGlaughlin was taken to the doctor by his father to see about getting psychiatric medication, according to testimony at a preliminary hearing in Barstow Superior Court.

During an interview with sheriff's homicide Detective Robert Alexander, McGlaughlin's father, Wayne, said his son had become "frightening." He also said that about three weeks before his son's arrest he had taken him to the doctor to see about getting medication to treat his erratic behavior, Alexander said during his testimony.

McGlaughlin, 19, and Covina residents David Smith, 20, and Cameron Thomson, 17, have all been charged with the Jan. 5 slayings of Thompson, of Apple Valley, and Bodhi, of Silver Lakes.

Stephan Williams declined to comment as to whether his client's mental state will be the crux of his defense if the case goes to trial.