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A Utah woman accused of fatally stabbing her 21-year-old girlfriend is competent to stand trial on a first-degree felony murder charge, an Ogden judge recently ruled.
Victoria Ashley Mendoza, 22, is accused of stabbing Tawnee Marie Baird while the two were driving on Interstate 15 in October.
In March, Mendoza's attorney, Michael Studebaker, asked that his client's competency be evaluated after several courtroom outbursts caused concern that she might not adequately understand the charges against her and could not participate in defending herself.
But after receiving two expert reports last week, 2nd District Judge Joseph Bean ruled Mendoza was competent to stand trial. A review hearing is now set for Sept. 17.
Meanwhile, Studebaker also is asking Bean to delay a seven-day trial set to begin on Nov. 30, as the attorneys fights for expert funding issues in federal court. In that case, Studebaker is challenging a state law that prohibits defendants who hire private council from receiving state funding for experts and investigators. Studebaker said if the judge doesn't delay Mendoza's trial, he will withdraw as her attorney and a public defender will be appointed. That new attorney would likely also ask for a continuance to become familiar with Mendoza's case, Studebaker said.
Court records indicate that prosecutors oppose delaying the trial.
Prosecutors allege that on Oct. 18, the couple got into an argument while driving on I-15, and Baird slapped Mendoza and pulled her hair. The defendant allegedly "became enraged and snapped," Weber County Attorney Christopher Allred told the judge in November.
Mendoza then allegedly stabbed her girlfriend 46 times, according to prosecutors.
The defendant's sister, Cindy Spencer, testified at the preliminary hearing that Baird and Mendoza used marijuana and prescription drugs, and both were jealous and controlling of one another. They got into fights that escalated into hitting, kicking and punching, the sister said.
The night that Baird was stabbed to death, Mendoza called her sister and said she had hurt her girlfriend and asked Spencer to come to the Ogden church they had attended growing up. Spencer testified that when she arrived, she found Baird dead in the passenger seat in a car covered in blood.
Mendoza is currently being held in the Weber County Jail without bail.
Twitter: @jm_miller