Natomas librarian’s accused ambush killer enters insanity plea ahead of murder trial
The man accused in the execution-style killing of a Natomas librarian in 2018 has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.
Ronald Seay entered the insanity plea and a second not guilty plea at his arraignment Wednesday morning in Sacramento Superior Court as the murder case continues its slow march to trial.
Amber Clark was shot 11 times at close range on the evening of Dec. 11, 2018, as she sat in her car in the parking lot outside the North Natomas library branch where she worked as a supervisor.
Seay, who moved to Sacramento from St. Louis in September 2018, carried mental troubles and a disturbing history of run-ins with librarians in the St. Louis area.
Authorities in Missouri told The Sacramento Bee in the days after Clark was fatally shot that Seay had been arrested multiple times for causing disturbances at libraries in the St. Louis area and had been banned from at least two branches.
The library outbursts continued in October in Sacramento, including at Clark’s Natomas branch where she was shot dead.
A trial date is expected to be set when Seay, 58, returns to court April 21, said Seay’s attorney, Sacramento County supervising public defender Norm Dawson. Sacramento County District Attorney’s prosecutors in 2019 said they would not seek the death penalty against Seay in the slaying of Clark, 41.
Seay, whose courtroom outbursts punctuated his early court hearings, saw his criminal proceedings halted in September 2019 to allow doctors to evaluate his sanity and determine whether he is fit for trial.
The ensuing coronavirus pandemic and the court delays that it spawned led defense attorney Dawson to call on doctors to reevaluate Seay before a scheduled October 2020 competency hearing.
A judge at the fall hearing found Seay mentally competent and moved the case to trial after a day-long December preliminary hearing, setting the stage for Wednesday’s court date.
Dawson said Seay continues to undergo “extensive psychiatric treatment” in custody at Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center near Elk Grove. Seay has been in the program since May at the facility, where he remains held without bail.
This story was originally published February 24, 2021 at 2:33 PM with the headline "Natomas librarian’s accused ambush killer enters insanity plea ahead of murder trial."
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