59-year-old Grants resident will stand trial for attempted murder in May 2007 incident.

Roy Barajas, 59, of Grants was ruled competent to stand trial for attempted murder for allegedly dousing a drunken man with gasoline and setting him on fire in May 2007, KRQE News 13 reported.

Witnesses told police at the time that the victim, Emerson Sloan, was lying next to a fence on Barajas' property, when Barajas told Sloan to leave, and when Sloan refused, Barajas took Sloans hat, filled it with gasoline and set it on fire, putting it back on Sloan's head, according to earlier reports.

The motive for the attack was considered odd enough to question Barajas' competency, KRQE reported.

But, according to News 13, both the defense and prosecution agreed that Barajas was competent enough to stand trial, and the motions hearing in a Grants courtroom Monday was over in a matter of minutes.

Outside the courtroom, one of Sloan's friends told KRQE that Sloan is still wearing leg braces from being burned.

A trial date hasn't been set, but Barajas will go to trial for attempted murder and two other felony charges, including a count of aggravated battery, according to News 13.

Roy Barajas, 59, of Grants was indicted by a 13th Judicial District grand jury this week on a charge of attempted murder and two other felonies in connection with the May 8 burning of another Grants resident, Emerson Sloan, the Gallup Independent reported on its Web site.

Barajas, who remained in custody this week at the Cibola County Detention Center on a $20,000 bond, is accused dousing Sloan with gasoline and setting him on fire, the Independent reported.

Witnesses told police at the time that Sloan had been lying on the ground next to a fence on Barajas' property, Barajas told Sloan to leave, and when Sloan wouldn't, Barajas took Sloan's hat, doused it with gasoline and lighted it and put the hat back on Sloan's head, the Independent reported.

Sloan was airlifted to University of New Mexico Hospital where he underwent two surgeries and at last report remained there in stable condition, according to the Independent.

Barajas was initially charged with aggravated assault with intent to commit a violent felony and aggravated battery with intent to commit great bodily harm. But the grand jury added a charge of attempted first-degree murder -- based on additional information not available to police at the time of Barajas' arrest, District Attorney Lemuel Martinez told the Independent.

No information on Barajas' possible motive has been revealed, except that he appeared to be trying to get Sloan off his property.

If convicted on the new charges, Barajas could be sentenced for up to 15 years in prison, but Martinez told the Independent his office may be filing for a habitual-offender enhancement.

Barajas has previously been convicted of criminal sexual penetration, kidnapping and assault, according to court records.

He was sentenced in Cibola County in April 1991 on one count each of rape and kidnapping -- to nine years for the rape, five years for the kidnapping, with each count enhanced by eight years as a habitual offender, the Independent reported.

Then-state District Judge Mayo T. Boucher sentenced Barajas to 30 years in prison, with five suspended, and four years on parole.

Barajas served just about half of his 25 years, and served his parole within the prison system, and was released in November 2004, Corrections Department spokeswoman Tia Bland told the paper.

Barajas earned credit for good time and served time in more than one New Mexico prison, Bland told the Independent.

Court records show Barajas reached a plea deal on a charge of criminal sexual penetration in Dona Ana County in 1986; was convicted in McKinley County of five counts of criminal sexual penetration in 1972; and also in 1972, pleaded guilty to one count of assault with intent to commit a violent felony in Valencia County.

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