{"id":347381,"date":"2026-06-05T01:27:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T01:27:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/347381\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T01:27:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T01:27:14","slug":"accused-raisin-ranch-killer-refuses-court-psychologist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/347381\/","title":{"rendered":"Accused raisin ranch killer refuses court psychologist"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

Norman Vulich, who is accused of killing his brother in a dispute over the family\u2019s raisin ranch, told a judge Thursday that he refuses to be examined by a court-appointed psychologist and wants to fire his private lawyers.<\/p>\n

The 63-year-old Vulich was in court for the results of the mental health evaluation requested by his attorneys, Mark Coleman and Daniel Harralson. The lawyers believe Vulich may not be mentally competent to go to trial and want him evaluated.<\/p>\n

Fresno County sheriff\u2019s detectives said Vulich fatally shot Jerry Vulich on Oct. 23, 2020, after objecting to his 68-year-old brother\u2019s decision to bulldoze the family\u2019s 40-acre raisin farm. Norman Vulich and a house full of stray cats were living at the farm.<\/p>\n

The shooting happened on the family\u2019s farming property near Manning and Fruit avenues, just southwest of Easton.<\/p>\n

If convicted, Vulich faces 40 years to life in prison.<\/p>\n

Coleman explained to Superior Court Judge Ryan Wells that Vulich refused to meet with the psychiatrist appointed by the court to evaluate him.<\/p>\n

Wells was expected to rule, based on the doctor\u2019s report, whether to proceed with a trial or seek mental health treatment for Vulich.<\/p>\n

Without an opinion on Vulich\u2019s competency, Wells said he was left with little choice but to reinstate the criminal proceedings against Vulich.<\/p>\n

Wells also asked the defendant why he wanted to fire his attorneys, both who are experienced in criminal defense.<\/p>\n

In a soft voice, Vulich answered: \u201cI am unhappy with their representation and I understood that our contract to be at will. …\u201d<\/p>\n

Vulich was previously represented by a public defender and it remains to be seen if he will hire another legal team.<\/p>\n

Wells set a hearing date next week to allow Coleman and Harralson to officially withdraw from representing Vulich.<\/p>\n

Prosecuting the case is Kaitlin Drake, senior deputy district attorney.<\/p>\n

Family members of Jerry Vulich\u2019s were disappointed with another delay in the nearly six-year criminal case.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s another delay and it\u2019s like he is playing a game,\u201d said Nicole Vulich, Jerry Vulich\u2019s daughter.<\/p>\n

Sharon Vulich, Nicole\u2019s mother and Jerry\u2019s wife, agreed that Norman is purposely delaying his murder trial. \u201cHe is a smart man and he knows exactly what is going on,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Norman Vulich already has lost one legal battle in civil court. A Fresno County jury awarded his brother\u2019s family $2.7 million in a wrongful-death lawsuit in 2024.<\/p>\n

\"Jerry Jerry Vulich Special to the Bee
\n Related Stories from Fresno Bee<\/p>\n


\n \"Profile
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Robert Rodriguez<\/a><\/p>\n

The Fresno Bee<\/p>\n

A Valley native, Robert has worked at The Fresno Bee since 1994, covering various topics including education, business, courts and agriculture.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Norman Vulich, who is accused of killing his brother in a dispute over the family\u2019s raisin ranch, told…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":324012,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":["post-347381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=347381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347381\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/324012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=347381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=347381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=347381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}