A former employee of the Pence Wealth Management advisory firm, part of LPL Financial, pleaded guilty this week to murdering a coworker and the coworker's roommate. He now faces a court decision on whether he was sane when the fatal stabbings occurred nearly four years ago.
Ramy Hany Mounir Fahim of Irvine, California, who initially pleaded not guilty two years ago, changed his plea Tuesday to guilty and admitted to special circumstances that could increase his sentence in the murders of co-worker Griffin Cuomo, 23, and Cuomo's roommate, Jonathan Bahm, 23, according to Superior Court of California, County of Orange case records.
The victims were slain at their Anaheim apartment on April 19, 2022, when Fahim was 26.
Online court records also indicate that a sanity phase in Fahim's jury trial has begun and is scheduled to continue Thursday. That phase will determine whether the defendant was legally sane when he fatally stabbed Cuomo and Bahm, according to an Orange County district attorney's office employee.
Jury selection was set to start Wednesday in the sanity phase, as Fahim has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, MyNewsLA.com reported.
In California, after a defendant is found guilty either by a plea or a trial, they may undergo a sanity trial to decide a "not guilty by reason of insanity" plea, according to information on another district attorney's website. A defendant in such a case must prove by a preponderance of evidence that they were legally insane when the crime occurred, the website says.
If found not guilty by reason of insanity, the defendant could be committed to a state mental hospital, according to a law firm website.
Fahim's lawyer didn't immediately respond to an email Wednesday seeking comment and more information on the case.
Cuomo started work as a marketing and media assistant at Pence Wealth Management in May 2021, according to his LinkedIn profile. Bahm described himself in his profile as a recent computer science graduate looking for work in the games industry.
Fahim's LinkedIn profile describes him as starting as a research associate for Pence Wealth in November 2021.
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