Crime & Court Blotter: May 2024

by Neal Putnam

News and updates about crime, public safety, and courts for the greater San Diego LGBTQ+ community.

GOSSIP GRILL ARSONIST

A man who is on probation for setting fire to Gossip Grill has been arrested again on charges of damaging another business, but his attorney doubts he is mentally competent to stand trial.

Ryan Scott Habrel, 39, is back in jail without bail, and charged once again with felony vandalism. He had initially been free after being released to a drug treatment program in January.

Habrel pleaded not guilty to the new charge and a San Diego Superior Court judge will evaluate his mental competency on May 9, after reading a psychiatric evaluation conducted on Habrel in jail.

Habrel is well known in the community, having formerly worked at Urban MO’s as a bartender. He had been ordered to pay Moe Girton, owner of Gossip Grill, $5,849 in restitution for the damages from the Oct. 20 fire.

Judge Rachel Cano suspended a 4-year state prison sentence for Habrel on those charges, which he may end up now having to serve if his probation is terminated.

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A MURDER IN EAST VILLAGE

A man has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity in the horrific murder of his neighbor, a gay man who was killed only because he left his front door open on a hot August night.

Andrew Holland, 38, apparently did not know Maxwell Thomas Logan, 25, before Logan killed him on Aug. 9, 2023. Logan lived one floor above Holland at 699 14th Street in East Village.

Holland’s boyfriend contacted Holland’s roommate after he had failed to pick the boyfriend up from work, according to testimony in Logan’s preliminary hearing. Holland was stabbed approximately 45 times.

Police officer Andrew Ozeroff testified Holland’s roommate discovered his body covered in blood on the apartment’s balcony. Officer Ozeroff said paramedics pronounced Holland deceased at 10:57 pm.

Police officers testified they found strange notes outside the apartment complex and in a hallway saying that Logan was dangerous and noting the apartment where he lived. It turned out they were written by his girlfriend, Lori Erickson, 23, who said she was frightened of him after he tried to choke her and threatened to hurt her cat.

Logan was arrested after he returned to his apartment and officers noticed he had blood on him. Detective Christopher Murray said Logan admitted to hearing voices in his head often and that he was part of “a digital simulation” and was “trying to break it.”

Logan told Murray he was walking in the building and noticed that Holland had propped his door open because it was so hot. He walked inside as Holland was looking at his mail, and stabbed him to death, Murray said.

The alleged killer told the detective his “consciousness was driven by a digital being.” Logan also said he suffered from “extreme psychosis,” but also realized that he had hurt Holland.

Deputy District Attorney Miriam Hurtado urged San Diego Superior Court Judge Lisa Rodriguez to order Logan to stand trial for the “senseless, callous, unprovoked attack on Mr. Holland.” She also urged Logan to be held to answer for the false imprisonment of his girlfriend.

Attorney Jack Temple, who represents Logan, said his client is diagnosed with schizophrenia and was having a manic episode at the time.

“He has since learned how to control these hallucinations,” Temple said.

Noting that Logan’s mother, sister, and brother attended the hearing, Temple suggested he could be released to a mental health program with supervision and an ankle monitor.

“He is an absolute danger to the community,” responded the prosecutor, adding, “he stabbed a victim close to 50 times.”

Judge Rodriguez said there were not sufficient protections to the public for such a release and denied bail. Logan remains in the Vista Detention Facility and will next return to court on June 6 to set a trial date.–Neal Putnam is a local crime reporter. You can reach him at [email protected].

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