Alleged killer of S.F. hospital worker was suffering 'crisis,' pleads not guilty, attorney says

"Public defender Sylvia Nguyen said that Tortolero Arriechi, who appeared in court today and was wearing an orange jail garb and white flip flops, pleaded not guilty to his charges. She said he was going through a "crisis" the day of the stabbing. "It's obviously clear that he was suffering a mental health crisis that day," Nguyen told Mission Local in an interview. "It was almost three weeks before he was even stabilized enough to be able to come to court.""

"Tortolero Arriechi was charged on Dec. 8 with on murder and an allegation that he used a deadly weapon. On Dec. 4, he was accused of entering Ward 86, the hospital's HIV clinic, seeking out his doctor, and stabbed social worker Alberto Rangel to death in the hallway. In the weeks before the incident and earlier that morning, Tortolero Arriechi had allegedly threatened his doctor and sought him out at a clinic in SoMa."

Wilfredo Tortolero Arriechi, 34, pleaded not guilty to murder after allegedly stabbing social worker Alberto Rangel to death at San Francisco General Hospital. Public defender Sylvia Nguyen said he was experiencing a mental health crisis and required nearly three weeks to stabilize before appearing in court. He appeared in orange jail garb and white flip flops and listened via a Spanish interpreter. He was charged Dec. 8 with murder and an allegation of using a deadly weapon for the Dec. 4 attack in Ward 86, the hospital's HIV clinic. Reports indicate he had threatened his doctor in the weeks and morning before the killing, and additional security had been requested on the floor. Hospital workers raised concerns about unsafe conditions.

Read at Mission Local