Man Admits Stabbing his Girlfriend to Death

A 26-year-old Laguna Hills man who stabbed his girlfriend to death pleaded guilty today to second-degree murder and was immediately sentenced indefinitely to a state mental hospital because he was found to be legally insane at the time of the attack.

Derek Henry Pinski killed his 24-year-old girlfriend, Alexandra Tang, on Sept. 1, 2012, and then drove to his father's home in Arizona, where he was arrested that same day.

The two met while they were students at UC Santa Barbara, and Tang, who lived in Santa Barbara, was visiting Pinski in Laguna Hills when he stabbed her to death.

After a judge found Pinski legally insane today he was ordered confined to a state mental health hospital for at least 15 years when he would be eligible to petition for his release, according to Senior Deputy District Attorney Ebrahim Baytieh.

Pinski had "multiple" diagnoses of mental illnesses that qualify under state law as "severe mental disorders," Baytieh said.

--City News Service