SAN DIEGO -- A transient accused in the 2007 beating death of an Oceanside man near a condominium complex in downtown San Diego is mentally incompetent to stand trial on murder charges, a judge ruled Friday.

After reviewing a doctor's report, Judge Frederick Maguire ruled that Claude Courtland Dean does not understand the charges against him and cannot assist his attorney in preparation for trial.

Maguire ordered that Dean, 65, be sent to Patton State Hospital, where he will receive mental health treatment, until -- or if -- doctors there determine he has regained his competency.

Dean, who has a 1997 conviction for making threats, spent more than a year in a mental health facility before being returned to San Diego last October to face charges in the April 8, 2007, death of Richard Harvey.

The body of the 59-year-old victim was discovered around 6:15 a.m. near the Harbor Club condominium complex at J Street and Harbor Drive.

A Harbor Club doorman testified at a hearing in March that he shooed Dean away after seeing him walk by, complaining about a missing jacket and carrying two metal pipes.

Video surveillance showed Harvey walking past a restaurant and Dean giving chase, said Deputy District Attorney Allen Brown.

The corner of a frame on the video appears to show the defendant striking the victim, the prosecutor said.

Harvey had lived with his wife in Oceanside, but moved out not long before he was killed.