Oakland – Three mental health professionals have found Cedric Irving, Jr., a former Laney College student who is charged with the murder of former Athletic Director John Beam, mentally incompetent.
The evaluations, which were discussed by the prosecution and defense during Friday’s mental competency hearing, shed new light on the Nov. 13 shooting that shook the Peralta Community College District.
No official order was made by presiding judge Jason Chin on whether or not Irving is mentally competent to stand trial.
A mental competency evaluation examines if a criminal defendant is “mentally competent” enough to participate in their own defense, and therefore stand trial, and is typically completed by one or two court-appointed forensic evaluators.
Both the prosecution and defense were granted until March 13 to review and confer over the findings, because they said they received the mental competency evaluations “late.”
According to expert sources in criminal justice, if Irving is found incompetent he could be sent to a rehabilitation facility or a state hospital until competency is regained. If he is found competent, proceedings in his case would continue.
Irving has not entered a plea for the charge of murder and a slew of sentence enhancements that would add extra time to his carceral sentence, which could be 50 years to life. Proceedings will remain suspended until the judge makes a ruling on Irving’s mental competency.
A screenshot of the Alameda County Inmate Locator taken on Feb. 27, 2026
Assistant Alameda County District Attorney Danielle London told reporters after the hearing that the prosecution is looking to hire an additional mental health specialist to conduct a fourth examination of Irving.
The Citizen initially reported that Irving was being held in the Santa Rita Jail’s behavioral health housing unit, but he has since been assigned a different housing number. The Citizen reached out to Santa Rita Jail to learn if Irving has been moved out of the behavioral health unit. A spokesperson told The Citizen that inmate housing units are classified information.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported that Irving told police that Beam had put “witchcraft” on him. The Citizen has not been able to independently confirm this report.
The Citizen reached out to a representative of the Beam family for comment on today’s hearing, but they did not respond in time for publication.
The next hearing is set for March 13 at 9 a.m. at the René C. Davidson courthouse.
Associate Editor Rachel Venable and Staff Writer Tamara Copes contributed reporting.