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A high-profile criminal case involving a son accused of stabbing his mother to death in their Pleasanton home over a year ago has been suspended while the defendant undergoes a mental health assessment.
Malcolm Tilley, who is charged with the brutal stabbing of his 71-year-old mother Marjory, is being evaluated pursuant to California state law to determine if he is competent to stand trial, according to the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office.
Court documents show that two mental health professionals were appointed to the case on April 16. That was the same court hearing where the defense declared doubt about mental competency.
“The court is awaiting the doctors’ reports regarding the defendant’s competency to stand trial,” deputy district attorney Louis Goodman told the Pleasanton Weekly.
Tilley’s next court date, which is when the court expects to receive the doctors’ reports, is scheduled for Monday (Aug. 3).
Tilley, now 32, made headlines last year when he turned himself into the Pleasanton Police Department on April 1, 2025 and allegedly confessed to stabbing his mother countless times in the neck. Police immediately rushed to their house on Alvarado Street to find the woman dead.
Tilley was subsequently booked into the Santa Rita Jail, where he has remained throughout his court proceedings over the past year.
After he was charged, more information came out about Tilley’s relationship with his mother – whom friends remembered as a woman of deep faith and a devoted volunteer for the senior community in Pleasanton. But he described to officers how his mother had berated and emasculated him to the point where he “had enough”, according to the initial police report.Â
The court case over the past year has been fluctuating between Tilley challenging his apparent confession and maintaining innocence to filing documents so that he could act as his own attorney.
The proceedings advanced to a preliminary hearing on Dec. 1 where Alameda County Superior Court Judge Toni Mims-Cochran found there to be enough cause to move forward with Tilley’s felony charges, including first-degree murder and special allegations of deadly weapon use and great bodily injury.
He was later arraigned and pleaded not guilty.
Since then, the case has been in the discovery phase where the court has subpoenaed records from different agencies like the Pleasanton Unified School District and CityServe of the Tri-Valley, court records show.
But now with Tilley’s mental competency evaluation, those proceedings have been suspended while two doctors determine if he is capable of standing trial.
Monday’s hearing on the evaluation report is scheduled for 9 a.m. at the East County Hall of Justice in Dublin.
