LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – A man convicted of killing his wife in 1980 and whose competency at trial is now in question due to a federal court ruling is having his case transferred back to Lake County.

Gerald Stanley, 66, is set to appear at a hearing in Lake County next month to begin the process of a retroactive competency hearing, which a federal judge ruled is necessary due to juror misconduct.

Stanley was sentenced to death in February 1984 for the shooting death of his wife, Cynthia Rogers.

Lake County District Attorney Don Anderson was in Butte County for a Tuesday hearing to discuss the case.

Stanley's trial, which began in January 1983 and stretched over a year, was moved from Lake County to Butte County due to media coverage, according to case documents.

However, Butte County Superior Court Judge Gerald Hermansen has ruled that the case can return to the area of origin, and Stanley has been agreeable to the transfer.

Anderson said Stanley is set to appear at an April 18 hearing for the appointment of a new attorney and setting of further proceedings.

Stanley has asked to have a private attorney represent him or to be able to represent himself, said Anderson.

Once those matters are settled, Anderson said the court can begin the hearings to determine if Stanley was mentally competent at the time of his trial, and therefore eligible for the death penalty.

In August 1980 Stanley shot Rogers with a high-powered hunting rifle while she was at her father's resort in Nice.

The search for Stanley after the shooting would become one of the largest manhunts in the county's history, and was one in which Anderson – then a young sheriff's deputy – took part, Anderson said in a previous interview.

Previous to Rogers' killing, Stanley was convicted of the 1975 murder of his first wife, Kathleen Rhiley, who he killed while she was taking their children to school.

A third wife, Diana Lynn Ramel, went missing on Feb. 14, 1980, in Manton, located in a remote area of Tehama County.

For years Stanley has offered to give the location of Ramel's body to authorities in exchange for an execution date, although attempts to find her body have not been successful.

The case went back to Butte County after federal court Judge Frank C. Damrell ruled in March 2008 that a female juror who had been a domestic violence victim didn't disclose that prior to the jury ruling on Stanley's mental competence in the trial's death penalty phase.

While the competency issue is settled, Stanley's death sentence is on a stay, officials reported.

If the upcoming hearing process finds that he was competent at the time of the trial, the death sentence could be reinstated.

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