Raymond Boodarian, 22, is charged with two counts of murder and one count of residential burglary in the July 10 killings of Robin Kay and Thomas Deluca at their Encino home. Authorities allege Boodarian shot the couple with their own gun after they interrupted him burglarizing the residence. Boodarian was not arraigned and was ordered to report to mental health court on Sept. 3. Court records show misdemeanor charges from 2023 and 2024 — brandishing a knife, criminal threats, and battery — were dismissed late last year following a prior declaration of mental incompetency. Questions remain about the dismissals and how California's mental-health court process affected case handling.
"Some of the questions are going to be, why was this case dismissed? Was he put on some type of diversion where he proved to the court and everyone he had since rehabilitated? Or did he slip through the cracks and this case was dismissed by accident, which is very rare?" said criminal defense attorney, Lou Shapiro. Shapiro explained how California's legal system may have played a role in the release of Kaye and Deluca's accused killer.
"There's a separate court, just for people with mental health issues, if they are eligible for that court, they usually get put on a different track, and for the most part, most people that go on that track do well," Shapiro said. "But every so often, we have a situation like this, where it didn't go the way it should have gone, and very tragically we have two people
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