Circuit Judge R. Lee Smith ruled that Vergilio Aguilar Mendez, the 18-year-old migrant held responsible for the death of a St. Johns County deputy of a cardiac episode several minutes after Mendez was arrested, is incompetent to proceed to trial and is to receive “competency restoration” while held at the Volusia County Branch Jail. The order suspends further criminal proceedings, but may be abrogated over the next 60 days should the treatment restore competency to the court’s satisfaction.
The ruling, issued less than two hours before the end of business on Friday, ahead of the New Year’s Day weekend, is a reprieve of sorts for the defense, but not a victory: the controversial charges of resisting arrest with violence and aggravated manslaughter of a law enforcement officer stand. The ruling is also reflective of the judge’s perplexity, if not unease: he had called it “a complex situation” when he said he’d delay his decision at the end of a hearing before Christmas. (See: “Judge Mulls Trial Competency of Migrant Facing Manslaughter Charge in Sudden Death of Deputy After Arrest.”)
But it is unclear how, and whether, Mendez can be restored to the sort of competency required for him to stand trial, since all three psychologists who evaluated him, including one who found him competent, concluded that he suffered from no psychoses or depression or other ailments that typically cause behavioral incompetency. Rather, they drew the portrait of a young man who is simply uncomprehending, who had had some head traumas, who did not think in linear ways and who did not retain much of anything of substance when explained anything. His lack of competence is substantially more intellectual than behavioral–in other words, innate rather than either treatable or curable.
The experts testified during a three-hour hearing before Smith at the St. Johns County courthouse on Dec. 22.
Mendez “currently has educational, cultural, and linguistic challenges that affect his capacity to proceed to trial,” the court found. “The three experts disagree as to whether these challenges can be overcome with training and education.” Expert witnesses Yolanda Leon and Yenys Castillo, who testified for the defense, found him incompetent to proceed and essentially un-restorable. Roger Davis, the psychologist who testified for the prosecution, deemed Mendez intentionally lazy in his answers, painting him more as a malingerer than an incompetent, though Davis described his encounters with Mendez in much the same terms as the other two experts had.
A chasm remains between Mendez’s ethnic and cultural profile–he speaks Mam, a dialect-rich language among Mayans of Guatemala, speaks little Spanish and barely a few words of English–and the judicial maze surrounding him.
“There was also conflicting testimony regarding intellectual disability, but no formal intellectual disability testing was conducted because there are no appropriate testing instruments available in the Mam language,” the court found. The judge’s order did not seek to explore those limitations or find ways around them, other than through whatever means are available to SMA Healthcare in Volusia, with help from the Palm Beach-based Guatemalan-Maya Center.
Mari Blanco, assistant executive director of the center, testified at the Dec. 22 hearing, and spoke of the “silent genocide” of the 1980s in Guatemala, when paramilitary gangs eradicated up to 600 villages and killed upward of 200,000 people. “His parents would have absolutely been affected by the genocide as well as his grandparents. But it’s something that everybody would know about,” Blanco said “The fears are still there, the ramifications and some of his family members might have been exiled at the time or might have had to flee or might have been killed by by the military there.” The implication was that Mendez’s relationship with men in uniform has been more fearful than trusting.
His background aside, Smith in his order agreed that Mendez has no ability to discuss his case with his attorney–he never exchanged a word with either Peoples or Atack during the three-hour hearing, or seemed engaged in any part of it–he is not understanding the charges against him or the possible penalties (up to 30 years in prison), and “does not have the capacity to testify relevantly.” The judge found that Mendez “has the capacity to manifest appropriate courtroom behavior.” But the line in the order reads with a shadow of irony, in that Mendez’s behavior was indistinguishable from that of a catatonic person.
Smith’s order suggests he considered releasing Mendez to enable him to seek treatment outside the confines of a jail. “Given the immigration status and the hold from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency,” however–Mendez would presumably be taken into custody by federal authorities if he were released–“the least restrictive means to conduct competency-based training is to utilize the services provided by SMA at the Volusia County jail,” the order reads.
At any point in the next 60 days SMA may issue a report should Mendez’s competency appears to have been restored. Those reports will remain confidential, but they will guide the court’s next steps, none of which are attractive: keeping Mendez at the Volusia jail indefinitely is the sort of burden local jailers would rather do without, especially with competency in doubt. Releasing him would lead to a different form of incarceration and likely deportation, but at a porous border: Mendez could soon return. And trying him would drag the court through a case fraught with unsavory implications, such as likely allegations of profiling and racism, all in the context of the overheated atmosphere about undocumented immigrants.
The defense, led by Assistant Public Defenders Rosemary Peoples and Craig Atack, has yet to argue what it eventually will: that Mendez’s arrest was either unnecessary or illegal, and predicated on a false suspicion that appears to have had more to do with Mendez’s race and inability to speak English than probable causes. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant State Attorney Mark Johnson.
Mendez crossed the border with Mexico as a 17-year-old, without documents. Being a minor, he was turned over to a family member in the United States and given a court date. He became an agricultural worker in the St. Augustine area. He was eating dinner outside the Super 8 and speaking with his mother in Guatemala by phone where he was staying the evening of May 19 when St. Johns County Sheriff’s deputy Michael Kunovich asked him what he was doing and why he wasn’t eating inside. An uncomprehending Mendez, who continuously yells out “sorry” and “familia,” is soon wrestled to the ground and repeatedly tased, ostensibly for resisting arrest. Mendez, screaming in pain from the tasing and the officers’ force, does not appear to understand what he’s being told or why several deputies are are using force against him. (See the video below from two body cams.)
Several minutes after Mendez was in handcuffs, Kunovich collapsed, was taken to the hospital, and died there. He was 52. The original charge against Mendez would have been resisting arrest. He was additionally charged with aggravated manslaughter and held on no bond at the Volusia jail, for his safety, rather than at the St. Johns jail.
The Dec. 22 hearing was to include a bond hearing as well. The judge deferred that to after his decision on competency was rendered. That decision now makes the bond hearing moot, as his release would contravene the order. For now, Mendez is in what amounts to judicial limbo.
Ric Flair says
Is he incompetent to deport or are we stuck with him like the other benefits seekers?
TR says
I’m hoping they deport his butt. How convient it is that he comes here lying he wants a better life for himself. Commits a crime and now can not be held accountable? Wonder how many others will try this and get away with it?
justin case says
Read the article again. He was eating outside of a motel when a deputy asked him why. Resisting is a secondary charge. Deputy suffered a tragic heart attack. If you were on a jury, could you truly convict a person who was NOT committing a crime of inducing a cardiac arrest? Not speaking English is not a crime.
TR says
My bad, I skipped over the part the deputy died of cardiac arrest. With that being said, how is he not fit to stand trial?
Ray W. says
A judge issued a ruling establishing that he is currently incompetent to stand trial. In that ruling, he listed the criteria that must be followed, the findings of facts that needed to be found, and the conclusions he reached based on those findings of fact. He did everything right. That doesn’t mean I agree with his findings. It means that I don’t have the power to make the findings. Only the court holds that power. If the prosecution wishes to appeal that decision, it can do so. Are you arguing that the judge failed to follow the law?
We are a nation of laws. If the legislature passes a statute that defines the standard for determining competency, in accompaniment with court rules of procedure, the trial judge must follow the law and rules as they exist. To people like TR, following the applicable law and rules may be difficult. After all, TR defines in advance the outcome that he wants and then complains when it doesn’t happen. That is contorting reason to fit a preconceived outcome, instead of following reason to whatever end it leads.
I accept that you, TR, do not know what you are talking about. Your position is quite common. There is an old lawyer’s saying:
There are four phases to a lawyer’s career. When he graduates from law school, after three years of study, he may think that he knows what he is doing, but he really doesn’t; he is unconsciously ineffective. In time, the new lawyer begins to realize just how little he knows; he becomes consciously ineffective. After much effort, the lawyer begins to understand how everything works; he is consciously effective. The good lawyers eventually come to know what to do automatically; they are unconsciously effective.
Comment after comment, TR displays to all FlaglerLive readers that he remains stuck in the first phase of commenting, in that he is unconsciously ineffective in his comments. He just doesn’t know how little he knows.
Nenemalo Jodon says
100% correct. The criminal in this case was the one who’s job is to protect people from the behavior he conducted himself in.
Mark says
What crime did he commit?
His crime was coming illegally. As you said, that should be deportation. The “crime” he is in jail for now is nonsensical.
Nenemalo Jodon says
True words from the mouth of a bigot. Karma did it right to that piece of shit for going” hands on” and executing an illegal search without a crime being committed. The criminal here is a dead pig violating the law of the land including state statutes.
Atwp says
Still don’t understand how they said he is responsible for the death of the cop. Have my beliefs but will keep them to myself. Happy New Year, everybody.
jw says
Embarrassing! In a case like this young man who does not speak English and the law enforcement officers who do not speak his language?
How can you accuse him of causing the death of that officer if it was a coincidence)? Typical example of how cruel some of us are (like Trump?) by accusing a foreigner, an easy way out? Shame on America, we are losing the respect we once had! In stead of deporting him (as Trump would suggest and some of the comments) someone who created this nonsense “crime” case should be investigated.
The real problem here: ignorant officers that badly need to be educated! The judge did the right thing but needs to dismiss the case!
Take a good look says
How totally absurd this entire situation is! NO! This illegal immigrant is NOT responsible for this law enforcement officers death. The only crime he committed is entering the U.S. illegally. Shame on the legal system for blaming this young man.
Rufkutdiamnd says
The cop was doing an illegal search as the guy was on his phone and eating outside. Guess it’s only a crime if you’re a person of color, look Hispanic and don’t speak English. The cop was a widow maker waiting to happen. No way could I convict for manslaughter. I’d say ask my ex-corrupt cop hubby but the widow maker got him 2 years after the divorce, he’d already had 2 other heart attacks in 4 years prior to that and he even lost weight, quit smoking and worked out.