Marin judge orders competency review for assault suspect

A Marin County Superior Court judge has ordered an evaluation of a San Rafael assault suspect to see if he’s mentally competent to stand trial.

David Jonathan Margoliash, 48, of San Rafael is accused of attacking two people and attempting to kidnap a nursing home resident last month. He is also awaiting sentencing for a pepper spray attack in March at the Islamic Center of North Marin in Novato.

Judge Kelly Simmons accepted the defense’s request for a competency evaluation Friday and suspended criminal proceedings for all of the defendant’s cases. Margoliash remains in custody at the Marin County Jail, where he is being held without a bail amount.

Margoliash was arrested on Nov. 30 for allegedly burglarizing a San Rafael couple’s home on Ross Street. Police said he struck a pregnant woman with a flashlight after she encountered him and bit the woman’s husband during a struggle.

Margoliash fled from the residence, but then allegedly visited a nursing home on Fifth Avenue, posed as a patient transporter and tried to kidnap a resident, police said. He left when employees questioned him. Police arrested him later that day.

The Marin County District Attorney’s Office filed charges of attempted kidnapping, burglary, assault with a deadly weapon, assault with force likely to produce bodily injury and battery.

The incident occurred two months after Margoliash pleaded guilty to charges that he used pepper spray during a confrontation with a person at the Islamic center. The witness believed that the defendant was carrying a gun in his backpack when he visited the building, police said.

The court ordered Margoliash’s release from custody in May despite the prosecution’s objections.

Margoliash was scheduled to be sentenced on Monday, but the hearing was postponed after his arrest in the San Rafael case. Margoliash had a plea agreement that would have him placed on probation.

Simmons scheduled a hearing on Jan. 15 to review the competency report.

Margoliash’s public defender, Meredith McGuire, declined to comment after the hearing Friday.