Man charged with shooting deputy can now stand trial

After a nearly two-year delay, a Colusa man accused of shooting a sheriff’s deputy and his own grandmother has been deemed fit to stand trial, authorities reported.

Judge John H. Tiernan on Thursday set a May 5 preliminary hearing for Richard Carl Marez, court staff confirmed.

Marez, 27, has pleaded not guilty to two counts of attempted murder, assault of a peace officer and assault with a semi-automatic firearm.

The charges stem from a July 19, 2008 shootout with Colusa sheriff’s Sgt. Mark Troughton, in which both Troughton and Helga Marez, the defendant’s grandmother, were shot.

Troughton has since recovered from his injuries.

Fragments of the bullet remain inside Mrs. Marez, who is hobbled and forced to use a walker, family members and law enforcement officials have said.

The shootout occurred just after 5:30 p.m. inside Helga Marez’s home in the 3500 block of Highway 45, north of Colusa.

Authorities have not said what sparked the gun battle, but Troughton was reportedly responding to a 9-1-1 domestic dispute call made by the grandmother. Authorities said Richard Marez opened fire on the sheriff’s deputy just moments after his arrival.

Marez is accused of firing 9 shots from a 9mm, striking Troughton in the arm and on his utility belt and the grandmother once in the leg.

Troughton’s belt was snapped by the round and wound up lodged in a wall, Sheriff Mark Marshall reported on the day of the shootout.

Troughton returned fire, shooting six rounds, but Marez was not injured.

Marez was arrested behind the house, near the Sacramento River a short time later, authorities reported.

In September 2008, Tiernan ruled that Marez was unable to understand the charges against him or aid his attorneys. Tiernan declared him incompetent to stand trial based on a jailhouse evaluation by two psychiatrists.

Marez was ordered to undergo treatment at Napa State Hospital later the same month.

He was transferred back to the Colusa County Jail on Feb. 9, where he continues to be held on $1 million dollars bail.