Newport Beach Doctor's Accused Killer Wants Faster Trial

NEWPORT BEACH, CA —The request for a speedier trial made by the man who allegedly gunned down a Newport Beach doctor was denied on Friday.

Stanwood Fred Elkus, a 79-year-old former Lake Elsinore resident, is accused of gunning down Dr. Ronald Franklin Gilbert, a urologist, at his Newport Beach office on Jan. 28, 2013. Elkus pleaded with an Orange County Superior Court judge Friday to accelerate the trial date.

His attorney said she needed more time to schedule witnesses but Elkus claims he is suffering from a brain tumor. He asked Orange County Superior Court Judge Patrick Donahue to get him out of a one-man cell, arguing it was in effect disciplinary isolation.

Donahue denied the request, stating that he was best served to remain at the Theo Lacy jail for medical care and because sheriff's officials have already indicated they plan to move him to a two-man cell soon.

Elkus denied he was causing any trouble in the jail.

"I had one of the deputies waving in my face papers saying, `You can't get along with anyone,' " Elkus said.

He said the younger inmates picked on him when he was in general population.
"These younger men want to beat up on me," he said.

"A 22-year-old guy was putting mustard on me and I complained, so they put me in a one-man cell," Elkus said. "He was 22 and I was 78 at the time... I'm not instigating anything."

Elkus added, "I could get along with a gorilla, especially now. I've learned a lot."
Elkus said he wanted to return to general population, though, arguing that he does not get along with his physician or the deputies in the area where he is housed now.

"I have a brain tumor. I don't think there's anything" the doctors can do to remove it, Elkus said.

"I think the jail has a responsibility to look after his medical condition," Donahue said in denying Elkus' request. "And Theo Lacy is the best place to do it."
Elkus was also frustrated at the delays in his case going to trial.

"Tumor or no tumor, I feel terrible," he said. "It's been more than four years. Please, I'm begging you, no more delays."

Elkus' attorney, Colleen O'Hara, said she was ready to go to trial, but she has been having trouble scheduling expert medical witnesses who are expected to testify about "neurological" issues the defendant has been facing since the shooting.
"I want to get a court date now," Elkus said. "It seems like she's delaying, delaying, delaying... I'm really in bad shape. I have to wear a diaper now. My body is really deteriorating."

O'Hara said she also needed time to go through the bureaucratic process of obtaining her client's medical records to be used as evidence in the trial in which Elkus has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.

"Without these experts there would be no defense," O'Hara said. "Without them he would be convicted within an hour."

Shutterstock photo, City news service contributed to this report.