Doctors Split in Competency of Hillsdale Mall Murder Suspect

Two doctors appointed to determine whether the man accused of fatally shooting an acquaintance outside Hillsdale Shopping Center last summer is competent to stand trial announced Wednesday they are split in their decision.

A San Mateo County Superior Court judge then appointed a third doctor to look into the competency of Gregory Elarms, and ordered that doctor's report due back on May 25.

Elarms, 58, is David Lewis, 54, as Lewis got out of his vehicle in a Hillsdale Mall parking lot on June 9, 2010.

The evening of the murder, Lewis, a well-known and beloved East Palo Alto community activist, got off work at San Mateo Medical Center and was spotted by Elarms in the parking lot there. Police say Elarms then followed Lewis to Hillsdale Mall and shot him at about 5:40 p.m.

The case went unsolved for six months until Elarms reportedly called police on Dec. 18, 2010, and gave a statement "inculpating" himself in the crime, according to the San Mateo County District Attorney's Office.

Elarms was arrested and has been in custody without bail since. He's charged with first-degree murder with the special circumstance of lying in wait, as well as with being a felon in possession of a gun, which makes him eligible for the death penalty.

He has .

Elarms' defense attorney expressed doubt as to whether Elarms is competent to stand trial, and in February the court suspended criminal proceedings.