Raymond Weber enters not guilty plea in live-streamed homicide case
At a court hearing last week, a Solano County judge said the defendant was mentally competent enough to understand the charges against him.
(File photo by Matthew Keys/Solano NewsNet)
A man who was accused of murdering two women in Vacaville, then publishing their deceased bodies on the Internet, has been found mentally competent enough to stand trial in the case, Solano NewsNet has learned.
The decision was made at a hearing last week, during which Raymond Weber entered a plea of not guilty to two counts of murder, according to court records.
Criminal proceedings against Weber had been suspended pending the outcome of a doctor’s mental health evaluation and subsequent report, the contents of which were reviewed by Kaufmann prior to last week’s hearing.
Weber was arrested by Vacaville police in late January after officers received a tip that he was live-streaming himself with a loaded firearm and the deceased bodies of two women. During the 30-minute video, Weber never acknowledged killing the victims, but he did say their deaths were retribution for an alleged setup involving his brother, Marcus Weber, and another individual.
Officials later identified the victims as 26-year-old Savannah Theberge of Utah, who is believed to be Weber’s then-girlfriend, as well as a teenager from Elk Grove. Solano NewsNet is not naming the younger victim due to her age.
Prior to his arrest, Weber spent several hours holed up in a Vacaville apartment while police attempted to negotiate his surrender. He was eventually captured with the assistance of a S.W.A.T. team, police officials said.
Weber is a local rap artist with ties to the Sacramento and San Francisco Bay areas. He was arrested in 2014 on a parole violation, around the same time that police were investigating his then-teenage brother Antoine Weber for the murder of the elder brother’s girlfriend. Antoine Weber, now 23, is currently incarcerated at the California State Prison in Vacaville.
In a copy of the video streamed in January and reviewed by Solano NewsNet, Weber complained that Marcus Weber and a second individual tried to arrange his murder.
“They tried to set me up,” he complained. “[He] tried to have me killed.”
Later in the video, Weber said he was unlikely to survive a confrontation with police.
“The police are going to come in, and I’m going to get them,” he pledged. “This is the last time you all will see me [online].”
Marcus Weber, who raps under the nickname “Uzzy Marcus,” has since denounced his brother’s alleged actions. During a podcast in February, Marcus Weber said he had not watched the purported live stream and was incarcerated on unrelated charges at the Sacramento County jail at the time of the incident.
“It’s fucked up for those girls and their families, that’s for real,” he said. “I can’t stress that enough — that shit ain’t okay, whether it was a crazy mental health [episode, or] whatever it was.”
A defense attorney representing Raymond Weber also raised the possible issue of a mental health episode or ongoing mental health challenges. At a court hearing in February, the attorney requested a medical evaluation of her client, stating that she had serious concerns that the accused murder suspect was not competent enough to assist in the preparation of his own defense.
Since then, criminal proceedings against Weber have been halted, with the judge ordering a local doctor to examine the defendant and prepare a report to help the court decide if Weber was competent enough to understand the charges against him.
The report, commissioned by the court and produced by Dr. Kathleen O’Meara, was provided to defense counsel in April, Solano NewsNet reported. The content of the report have not been made public.
In addition to the mental health report, both prosecutors and Weber’s defense team have solicited records from numerous agencies, hospitals and schools. Some records held by the Vacaville Police Department were initially kept from Weber’s defense team in part, with the agency saying they had serious concerns about the safety of two witnesses who were interviewed.
Weber’s defense team lodge a complaint with the court, urging the judge to compel the police department to provide unredacted copies of the records in question. In May, the judge sided with the defense, ordering the police department to produce the records as requested.
This week, the Solano County District Attorney’s Office filed an amended complaint, charging Weber with a subsequent count of being a felon in possession of a firearm. His next court appearance is scheduled for July 14.
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