"One [psychologist] concluded she was insane, and the other did not," said Carl Beatty, deputy public defender. "It's not unusual to have a split of opinion."

A third opinion by an expert privately retained by the defense is still pending, said Santa Clara County District Attorney James Gibbons-Shapiro. The next court date for Yang is March 15, when Judge James Emerson will set a tentative trial date.

"She's pled not guilty by reason of insanity, and the way you resolve that is through a jury trial," Gibbons-Shapiro said.

McCandless, a prominent local real estate developer and restaurant owner, had allegedly been in a relationship with Yang before he was found dead from multiple stab wounds on the kitchen floor of his Saratoga Oaks townhouse on March 15, 2005. In a grisly scene that morning, Yang stood on the third-floor balcony of the townhouse mumbling incoherently and slashing herself with a knife as a crowd of onlookers gathered below. Deputies from the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department tried to talk Yang down from the balcony, eventually taking her into custody after she passed out from blood loss.

Yang was then treated by paramedics for traumatic wounds and taken to Valley Medical Center. She recovered from her wounds and was transferred to the Elmwood Correctional Facility in Milpitas to await trial.

Yang was charged with murder, assault with a deadly weapon and battery causing bodily harm in three counts involving McCandless. She has also been charged with additional counts of assault with a deadly weapon and criminal threat against a Sunnyvale man.

McCandless was the owner of the bar and grill Birk's Restaurant in Santa Clara. His company, McCandless Management Co., had business towers and office parks across the Santa Clara Valley, including the 11-story McCandless Towers on Santa Clara's Great America Parkway. He was 57 at the time of his death.

"She's very depressed and her condition seems to be worsening," Beatty said of Yang. "Insanity is not determined by her current state of mind but her state of mind when the offense occurred."

Once the case goes to trial, a jury determines whether Yang is guilty, as well as the degree of the offenses. If there is a conviction, the same jury will determine sanity in a separate proceeding in what is called a bifurcated trial.