Postponements continue for Zizian murder trial

FAIRFIELD, Calif. (CN) — Delays are continuing to affect an upcoming trial involving two attempted murder suspects associated with an anti-AI group known as the Zizians, including one suspect who is currently medically unable to stand trial and has been frequently moved within California’s penal system in order to get adequate mental health care.

Solano County Superior Court Judge John Ellis again asked California corrections officials where Suri Dao, one of two suspects charged with the attempted murder of Vallejo landlord Curtis Lind in 2022, can be housed and receive medical and mental health treatment for anorexia, catatonia and schizoaffective disorder.

Dao, who appeared in court in a wheelchair and apparently catatonic with her head hanging down, was recently moved to the California Institution for Women in Chino to undergo psychological evaluation. However, the doctor initially assigned to review the case was unavailable, and, in anticipation of Monday’s hearing, Dao was moved back to the Solano County jail, where she will be interviewed by what Ellis called an “alienist,” an older term describing a psychologist who appears as a court expert and determines the sanity of a defendant.

Ellis asked Jeff Harry, a deputy district attorney with Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office, who appeared via Zoom, if a facility in that county could house Dao, and “had the ability to force-feed someone."

“That’s beyond my scope,” said Harry. “I’m not trying to be cagey, but I couldn’t say.”

Harry said there weren’t any facilities he could recall that had what he’d consider “24/7 suicide watch,” and he said Dao needed to go to a facility with “a higher level of care.”

Ellis said he was trying to find somewhere near Solano County that could force patients to take medications and has in-house or on-call psychiatric services.

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 anorexia and had an electrolyte imbalance. He said she developed a pressure ulcer on her hip and buttock area because she was “lying down in feces and urine” and refused to get up. Her condition, Alarcon said, could lead to cardiac arrhythmia, and increases the likelihood of stroke and death.

Dao’s attorney Brian Ford told the court he would prefer his client go to a facility that could help with her mental health diagnoses, but it was unclear where in Northern California she would be able to receive in-depth treatment.

The second defendant, Alexander Jeffrey Leatham, a transgender woman, sat in the courtroom with a mask on while her attorneys told the court about the defense retaining new counsel her, which would hold up the trial until August, when attorney Allison Margolin would be available as co-counsel.

Leatham, unprompted, interrupted proceedings to say; “Allison Margolin doesn’t represent me, I represent myself,” after she thanked her supporters for donating to her defense.

Ellis decided to postpone further discussion and decisions about where to house Dao until the psychologist turns in a report on Dao’s condition. A hearing is scheduled for Jan. 23 and is to address motions to compel and to continue and an arraignment for Leatham’s third attempted escape from jail.

The hearing date is the same date as a readiness conference regarding a trial in Solano Superior Court for a homicide charge against Maximillian Snyder, who is suspected of fatally stabbing Lind in the neck in January 2025. Lind had been set to testify against Dao and Leatham regarding the attempted murder charges.

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

Leatham and Dao belong to a group informally titled the Zizians, a loose, cult-like organization of radical vegans who claim AI is a danger to humanity. The two suspects are among roughly 10 known members of the Zizians — who are 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.

The group is currently implicated in six killings across the country.

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.