SANTA ANA — A 38-year-old Westminster man pleaded guilty to killing his father, but because an Orange County Superior Court judge ruled Wednesday he was insane at the time he is expected to be committed to a state mental health facility.

Johnson Loc has been charged with one count of murder in the killing of 66-year-old Thinh Loc, according to Westminster police. But he accepted a plea deal to admit a felony count of voluntary manslaughter, according to court records.

Based on medical reports, Orange County Superior Court Judge Greg Jones ruled Loc was insane at the time of the killing, according to court records.

Jones ordered Orange County Mental Health Department officials to evaluate Loc and offer recommendations for treatment, according to court records. A hearing to commit the defendant to a state mental health hospital was set for May 15.

Further details of the reasons for the insanity ruling were not immediately available.

Police responded at 3:12 p.m. Dec. 10, 2021, to the 15800 block of Las Flores Street, where Thinh Loc was found unresponsive by family members and later pronounced dead at the scene.

Loc pleaded guilty to possession of methamphetamine, a felony, and a drug pipe, a misdemeanor, in 2011, but he entered into a diversion program and successfully completed it, leading to the charges being dismissed, according to court records.

In a January 2012 note, an operator of the drug program said Loc “was a pleasure to have in class.”

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