Doctors Find Ahio Not Competent to Stand Trial

The case against a man charged with stabbing Millbrae resident Jared Afu to death in 2010 at Mills High School will likely not go to trial.

On Friday, two court-apointed doctors filed reports indicating they do not believe Laungatasi Samana Ahio is competent to stand trial.

As a result, the San Mateo County District Attorney's Office and defense attorney Edward Pomeroy agreed to waive a jury trial and instead submit the competency issue on the two doctors’ reports to the court.

Acting Criminal Presiding Judge Lisa Novak agreed with the reports, finding Ahio not competent to stand trial.

The case will continue June 15 when Ahio's placement destination will be determined, possibly at Napa State Hospital.

Had Ahio have been declared competent, he would have been eligible for the death penalty or life in prison without parole.

According to the county district attorney's office, Ahio and Afu confronted each other over personal matters at the Mills High tennis courts in front of friends on August 4, 2010.

Ahio is accused of stabbing Afu repeatedly in the face. Police say he then fled the scene. Afu died at the scene.

The police report summary states that a trail of blood led from the tennis courts to a church two blocks away where a backpack with a bloody knife and the accused's identification was found.

Ahio surrendered - with his parents accompanying him - the next day at the South San Francisco Police Department. "The parents convinced him that he had to turn himself in, and they came in with him," said San Mateo District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe.

At a pre-trial hearing on June 8, 2011, a friend of the victim, 21-year-old Brittney Bugarski, testified that “the one who stabbed him” sat on the same bench with his back turned to Afu and his friends for several minutes before he got up and appeared to punch Afu in the face.

She didn’t identify Ahio as the attacker, but she did say that Afu attempted to run and that he was pursued by his attacker and apparently punched several more times while his attacker said, “you shouldn’t have (messed) with my wife.”

Ahio remains in custody awaiting placement on a no bail status.

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