Judge orders evaluation for Pasco man charged with killing his mother

A Pasco man charged with killing his mother is going to a state psychiatric facility after refusing to attend court hearings four days in a row.

Giovanni Magaña, 30, has not been communicating with staff since he was booked into the Franklin County jail early July 14 and has yet to make his first appearance in court.

During one scheduled hearing in Franklin County Superior Court, a sheriff’s deputy said they didn’t know if Magaña’s issue is medical or mental health.

He has been on “direct watch,” which means a deputy is watching him constantly in the jail.

Magaña also reportedly was “stoic and was non-verbal” when Pasco detectives tried to interview him in the hours after 67-year-old Praxedis Vargas Magaña was found stabbed to death inside her son’s bedroom.

He is charged with second-degree murder.

At the request of Magaña’s defense attorney, Judge Joe Burrowes signed the order for an evaluation.

The order states there is reason to believe Magaña may have a developmental disability based on “observations” in the jail.

He will be transferred to Eastern State Hospital in Medical Lake for an inpatient evaluation within the next two weeks.

The case will be on hold for at least a month while attorneys and the court await a competency report.

Police were called to Magaña’s 1813 N. 14th Ave. home just after midnight July 14.

A witness reported hearing Magaña and Vargas Magaña fighting in the son’s bedroom.

The caller said the woman sounded like she was in pain and was asking for the police to be called.

Magaña “was heard telling the female victim to be quiet and to calm down,” court documents said.

When officers arrived, Magaña’s bedroom door was closed and the lights were off. He emerged several minutes after they knocked on the bedroom door, and officers noted that he was covered in blood, documents said.

A bloody knife was seen in the bedroom on the mattress.

His mom was found unresponsive on the bedroom floor with blood around her neck. Officers and paramedics were unable to revive her with CPR.

In addition to the knife, investigators also discovered a bag of suspected methamphetamine inside the room.

Vargas Magaña spoke with a Pasco officer five days before her death when she reported Magaña failed to return to her home after leaving the day before.

She told the officer she “feared that something had happened to Giovanni because he was not in the right state of mind due to using methamphetamine since Friday, July 3. ... Giovanni’s meth use was the reason she had been watching him.”

Pasco police are asking anyone with information on the death to call dispatchers at 509-628-0333 or email Detectives Jed Abastillas (abastillasj@pasco-wa.gov) or Bill Wright (wrightb@pasco-wa.gov).

This story was originally published July 22, 2020 at 2:34 PM.