The criminal court case against the man accused of beating a woman into a coma before barricading himself inside Ty Warner’s Montecito estate this May is on hold after a judge in Santa Barbara Superior Court this Monday ordered the defendant be evaluated to determine if he is mentally competent to stand trial.
Charged with five counts — first-degree attempted murder; residential burglary; kidnapping; assault through force likely to produce great bodily injury; and resisting, delaying, or obstructing a police officer — Russell Maxwell Phay appeared in Department 12 of the Santa Barbara County Superior Court for his preliminary hearing setting the morning of June 2.
On May 21, Phay allegedly broke into and barricaded himself inside the Beanie Babies tycoon’s mansion on the 1000 block of Fairway Road, resulting in a standoff with local authorities that ended with his arrest after he jumped out of the estate’s second-story bathroom window. The 42-year-old resident of Henderson, Nevada, and military veteran has been charged with assaulting financial services executive Linda Malek-Aslanian, 60, leaving her in a coma due to the brain injury she sustained from the attack on the property. The complaint outlines that Phay entered “an inhabited dwelling house and trailer coach and inhabited portion of building occupied by Warner and Malek-Aslanian.” Phay, who is being represented by Public Defender Brian Mathis, has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
After the bailiff called the court to order on Monday, Honorable Judge Stephen Foley was seated at the bench. Monday morning was Judge Foley’s first time in Department 12, as he had been brought down from North County to fill the seat of outgoing judge Michael Carrozzo, who stepped from the bench this week after accepting a lifetime ban from the bench over alleged ethical breaches. Phay’s case was the first to be heard.
Phay entered the courtroom in a gray jail jumpsuit and a long-sleeved blue undershirt. His hands were cuffed in front of him, and he was chained at the feet.
The events of Phay’s hearing were brief and lasted only a few minutes. In an interview, Deputy District Attorney Kevin Weichbrod clarified that defense counsel brought forth doubt on Phay’s mental competency to understand criminal proceedings, California Penal Code 1368. Judge Foley ordered a competency evaluation for Phay and suspended further proceedings until the mental evaluation is completed.
Phay had originally been scheduled to appear in court again on June 3 for a preliminary hearing, but that has since been vacated. Mathis and Weichbrod disagreed on which doctor should perform the evaluation, so Judge Foley allowed for two evaluations to take place. The evaluations are due June 30 at 8:30 a.m. While the competency issue is pending, Phay will remain in county jail without bail.
When Monday morning’s proceedings came to a close, Phay attempted to walk ahead of the two deputies escorting him. The deputies requested him to wait, and Phay quickly became agitated, cursing the deputies and saying he could walk himself. Phay then turned to the media in the courtroom, flipping them off and calling them “stupid motherf—s.” As the deputies walked him down the aisle, he turned to those seated in the gallery, towering over them, and murmured more profanity.
In a recent statement on May 29, Phay’s family told NBC News that they had tried to warn officials in the days leading up to the alleged attack that he might hurt someone. They described Phay as a once loving and kind person but said he now suffers from schizophrenia, leaving him erratic and unrecognizable. Phay has a criminal history spanning multiple states, and in a recent criminal case in Colorado, he pleaded guilty to felony menacing in 2021 after being accused of assaulting someone with a baseball bat, NBC reported.
In a 2014 interview with S.F. Gate, talking about his time in the military, Phay said, “I am fully trained for combat. I have been trained to eliminate you. I know that sounds crazy, but it is true.”
Authorities are still unclear if there was a connection between Phay and Warner. Phay’s attorney did not respond to requests for comment by press time.
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