Judge halts case against Zizian murder suspect over competency concerns

VALLEJO, Calif. (CN) — A California judge suspended court proceedings on Tuesday for one defendant about to go to trial for the attempted murder of their landlord, in a case tied to the anti-AI group known as the Zizians.

Solano County Superior Court Judge John Ellis ruled to stop hearings and motions in the case of Suri Dao, one of two suspects in jail for the attempted murder of Vallejo landlord Curtis Lind in 2022, due to issues of competency and housing.

Dao’s attorney Brian Ford said his client’s ongoing medical issues constitute an emergency, and after weeks of back and forth in the courtroom and with the Department of Corrections about where to send them — Dao identifies as nonbinary — problems with moving them to the California Medical Facility (CMF) in Vacaville remain.

Ellis ordered Dao be transferred to CMF to receive medical and psychiatric treatment on Dec. 10, but has yet to be moved to the facility.

Vickie Whitney, appearing via Zoom for the Department of Corrections said that because Dao was “assigned female at birth” the department disagreed with sending Dao to CMF, a male-only facility, and that it was unlikely they would receive the psychiatric treatment they needed there.

“I’m not necessarily inclined to change my order,” said Ellis, noting he could hold the Department of Corrections in contempt of court or they could comply with the order.

Ellis said because Dao chooses their gender identity and the penal code has been updated to reflect a person’s right to choose, CMF is the best possible facility for Dao, due to its proximity to court proceedings and Ford’s ability to meet with his client.

“These things are in flux,” Ellis said regarding the rules on gender and housing.

However, even with Ellis’ suspension of proceedings, their removal from jail to a medical facility may take a few more days. The decision of where Dao will ultimately be housed was tabled until Dec. 17.

During Tuesday’s hearing Dao was seated in a wheelchair, hair tousled and frequently bent their head down. Due to the size of their wheelchair Dao was unable to fully be in the courtroom and remained in the doorway.

Ford declared a doubt to the court whether Dao could stand trial and Ellis agreed, saying this time wasn’t like a previous time early in proceedings when Dao was sent to the California Institution for Women in Chino, and they needed prompt medical attention.

Based a report from a medical expert for the defense, Dao suffers from catatonia and anorexia, and most likely will need to be force-fed when moved to a new facility. The defense’s medical expert also referenced schizoaffective disorder but stopped short of making a full diagnosis.

At a Dec. 1 hearing, Jordan Alarcon, a psychiatric registered nurse and the director of nursing at Wellpath, the jail’s medical provider, said Dao had lost 32 pounds since September due to “restrictive anorexia” and had an electrolyte imbalance. He said she developed a pressure ulcer on her hip and buttock area because she was “laying down in feces and urine” and refused to get up. Her condition, Alarcon said, could lead to cardiac arrhythmia, increased likelihood of stroke and death.

Solano County District Attorney Ilana Shapiro said the diagnoses of catatonia and anorexia were medical conditions, as she described them by the DSM-5, and not psychological impairments. She said Dao was competent to stand trial and urged Ellis not to suspend proceedings.

Shapiro also claimed Ford was withholding evidence, such as conversations between the medical expert and himself, from the prosecution.

In a heated back and forth that Ellis had to interrupt repeatedly, Ford and Shapiro argued over what constituted “work product.”

“I don’t appreciate the insinuation that I haven’t been forthcoming in the case,” Ford said about Shapiro’s arguments.

While suspending court proceedings, Ellis assigned a medical doctor to evaluate Dao’s medical and psychological conditions and come back to the court with a report by Jan. 5.

The second defendant, Alexander Jeffrey Leatham, a transgender woman, did not appear in the courtroom for her trial confirmation scheduled at the same time as Dao’s hearing on competency and housing.

A Solano County Sheriff’s officer in the courtroom said Leatham was unwilling to walk on her own or sit in a wheelchair. Leatham’s attorneys waived the right to her appearance in court.

Carol Long, one of Leatham’s attorneys, said she was ready for trial. However, given the circumstances with Dao, it seemed a hearing for motions in limine scheduled for Jan. 6 was unlikely to happen, and a consideration for severing the cases was brought up.

“I don’t know what is going to happen,” Ellis said regarding how suspending proceedings for Dao may complicate Leatham’s trial and said he would take up the possibility of severing the cases when it was ripe.

Leatham and Dao belong to a group informally titled the Zizians, a loose, cult-like organization of radical vegans and computer savants who claim AI is a danger to humanity. The group is currently implicated in six killings across the country.

In an attack, the right side of Lind’s skull was shattered, and his chest was impaled with a samurai sword. Lind shot and killed Zizian member Emma Borhanian and wounded Leatham. Both Leatham and Dao are charged with Borhanian’s murder, along with an aggravated mayhem charge.

Though he survived and was set to testify at Dao and Leatham’s trial, Lind was killed in January 2025. Another Zizian, Maximilian Snyder, is accused of the murder and is now awaiting trial.

Leatham and Dao are two of roughly 10 known members of the Zizians — a group dedicated to the ideas of blogger Jack “Ziz” LaSota, a 34-year-old transgender woman who came to the San Francisco Bay Area in 2016.

A former aspiring tech worker, LaSota came to the tech-saturated region to study the dangers artificial intelligence could pose to humanity and developed a following among AI theorists and tech bloggers for her radical ideas on AI, veganism and gender.

In August 2022, LaSota faked her death and disappeared. She was arrested in Maryland in February on charges of trespassing and possession of a handgun in a vehicle.

Another member of the Zizians accused of killing a U.S. Border Patrol agent pleaded not guilty to murder and other charges. Prosecutors said they will seek the death penalty against her.