Russell Maxwell Phay Deemed Competent to Stand Trial in Attempted Murder Incident at Ty Warner’s Mansion in Montecito

Russell Maxwell Phay appears in competency hearing in Santa Barbara County Superior Court.

SANTA BARBARA, June 30, 2025 -- Russell Maxwell Phay — a military veteran with a history of violent encounters and time spent behind bars was found competent to stand trial. This assessment stems from an incident where  Phay wandered onto Ty Warner’s expansive oceanfront property, claiming that it was his and ordering all of Warner’s staff away. The attack triggered a large-scale response by multiple law enforcement agencies who showed up with a helicopter, a BearCat, dogs, and many sworn officers. At the time, law enforcement thought a hostage situation was underway.

Phay barricaded himself in an upstairs bathroom and was arrested with the help of police dogs when he jumped to the ground below. No information has been presented suggesting that Phay had any particular bone to pick with the famously reclusive Warner — a billionaire who owns such marquis properties as the Four Seasons Biltmore, the Montecito Club, the Coral Casino, and San Ysidro Ranch — or if he knew it was Warner’s property he had claimed as his own.

Phay showed up in court Monday wearing jailhouse scrubs with chains wrapped around his waist and his hands handcuffed together in front of him. After attorneys representing both sides agreed he was competent to stand trial, Judge Foley set August 25 as the date when he would determine when the actual trial will start. The trial would be, he said and all sides agreed, sometime in September.

Not discussed in Judge Foley’s courtroom was a significant wrinkle in the prosecution’s case against Phay. Added to the charges were several new ones involving another beating Phay allegedly inflicted earlier the same day he is accused of breaking onto Warner’s property. This one involved a woman living on Arroyo Quemada Lane — well to the north of Goleta — who confronted Phay while he was taking a drink from a nearby watering hose. According to amended court papers, “The defendant assaulted Victim #2 and personally inflicted significant injuries.”