In a public announcement Monday, prosecutors said they would not seek the death penalty for a mentally ill Hermosa Beach woman who recently pleaded not guilty to the charge of murder with special circumstances.

Marie Elise West, 38, allegedly killed a 65-year-old Latino man with her car nearly three years ago in the city of Van Nuys.

In a related matter, the court also postponed West’s June 23 competency hearing to July 8 since the prosecution’s psychiatrist has yet to interview her.

In early June, Judge Fred J. Fujoka appointed two psychiatrists to determine if West is competent to stand trial for murder. West was not present at that hearing at the Los Angeles Superior Mental Health Court.

A Los Angles Superior Court judge initially deemed West mentally incompetent to stand trial for allegedly running down and killing Jesus Plascencia in the early morning of Sept. 1, 2000, because of his ethnicity.

According to Deputy District Attorney Scott Millington, the district attorney’s Special Circumstances Committee, an agency that ascertains what criminal cases warrant the death penalty, failed to give any reason behind its ruling.

West pleaded not guilty to the charge of murder May 12 and the court required West to return to court May 22 to determine whether there is enough evidence to move forward with the trial.

Following the crime, Judge Michael S. Luros ordered West be sent to Patton State Hospital in San Bernardino, based on reports written by the prosecutor’s and defendant’s psychiatrists, both of whom were in agreement of West’s mental condition.

West would remain at Patton and would stand trial if and when doctors ever thought her competency had returned.

The court reviews competency in how a defendant is able to communicate with their attorney and aid in their defense.

Last year, Patton Hospital informed the court that West was now competent. Everything changed when the court modified its ruling and now considers her competent to return to court for the proceedings, said Millington.

Several days after the crime, Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney Jacquelyn Lacey filed a special circumstance of hate crime to the murder charge, meaning prosecutors can seek the death penalty since they claim the crime was racially motivated.

According to witnesses, West ran down Plascencia with her Volvo as the elderly man walked out of a bagel store and into the parking lot near the corner of Stagg Street and Sepulveda Boulevard. West dragged the man 30 yards out of the parking lot and into the intersection where officers eventually found his body. She then made ethnic slurs about the victim to both police and witnesses.

Plascencia worked as a busboy for Weiler’s Deli in Van Nuys for 20 years. His daily routine began early in the morning, around 4 a.m. when he would pick up bagels for the deli owner.

West is currently locked away inside the jail’s psychiatric ward and will await future court dates.

West’s husband, Al Bowman, said she has been in and out of hospitals about 22 times for a chemical imbalance and she had been taking 17 different medications prior to the crime.