A Woodland man charged with attempted murder after reportedly setting fire to an occupied mobile home has changed his plea from not guilty to not guilty by reason of insanity.
The switch in plea requires that Ernesto Lane Morales, 64, undergo psychiatric evaluations to determine whether he knew right from wrong when he allegedly torched his family’s residence at the Idle Wheel Estates on Bourn Drive in Woodland on Feb. 21.
Morales, currently on a no-bail hold at the Yolo County Jail, is due back in Yolo Superior Court on April 7 for a status conference.
Authorities said Morales was part of an ongoing dispute over who would live at the mobile home. The original occupant, an elderly woman, had recently moved to a convalescent facility.
“There had been some suggestion earlier in the day that (Morales said) if he couldn’t live there, nobody could live there,” Woodland Fire Department Battalion Chief Rick Sander said at the time.
Five people were inside the home at the time, including two children ages 5 and 3, according to police. All escaped without injury, but the residence sustained $70,000 in damage.
Morales is charged with five counts of premeditated attempted murder, as well as arson and six case enhancements for prior felony convictions that resulted in prison terms, including a federal court conviction dating back to 1972, court documents show.
— Reach Lauren Keene at lkeene@davisenterprise.net or 530-747-8048. Follow her on Twitter at @laurenkeene