Muni stabbing trial to proceed, competency challenge dropped

SAN FRANCISCO — The criminal prosecution of a man suspected in stabbing several people on San Francisco public transit last year will move forward, after the man's attorney Monday agreed his client is mentally competent to stand trial.

At a hearing Monday morning in San Francisco Superior Court, the attorney for 30-year-old Bobby Brown agreed to a court-appointed doctor's conclusion in January that Brown was competent to assist in his own defense and to stand trial, according to district attorney's office spokesman Brian Buckelew.

Brown is suspected of stabbing five people -- four women and an 11-year-old boy -- in separate incidents between May 12 and Nov. 30. Two of the women were stabbed on San Francisco Municipal Railway trains, and the boy was attacked on a Muni bus. The two other women were stabbed while walking in the Tenderloin neighborhood.

All five victims survived, but the boy nearly bled to death.

Police and prosecutors have said the stabbings were random and unprovoked, and that the attacker said nothing and then fled.

In a Nov. 14 Tenderloin stabbing, Brown allegedly asked the woman for money before attacking her.

Brown, who is homeless, was arrested on Dec. 1. He is facing four counts of attempted murder, five counts of assault with a deadly weapon, eight counts of battery and one count of attempted robbery for the alleged attacks.

Criminal proceedings were suspended in December after Brown's attorney V. Roy Lefcourt declared a doubt as to his competency, saying he had "serious psychological issues."

But according to Buckelew, Lefcourt Monday stipulated to the competency finding.

Lefcourt was not immediately available for comment. He has previously questioned the identification of his client as the stabber.

Brown, who has not yet been formally arraigned on the charges, is due back in court Tuesday morning for arraignment.

If convicted, he would face life in prison.