Special session to deal with dangerous criminals still on NM streets

Sly Quincy Jones has been confined in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Albuquerque for 444 days while lawyers, judges and experts considered whether he is mentally competent to stand trial for intentionally setting fires that terrified a historic Downtown-area neighborhood.

His criminal rap sheet shows 30 years of misdemeanors, felonies and failures to appear in court in New Mexico and Florida. Since 2012, his alleged conduct in Albuquerque has escalated from disorderly conduct to arson, aggravated assault and drug possession.

At the age of 52, Jones in June was found incompetent to stand trial for the third time in three years. Typically, he has been released back into the community.

This time, however, he is slated to stay at the secure New Mexico Behavioral Health Institute in Las Vegas, where he will receive treatment to attain competency to stand trial on the felony charges related to early morning fires set on properties in the Huning Highland neighborhood. It’s uncertain what will happen if he isn’t amenable to treatment.

As the state Legislature meets in a special session on public safety beginning Thursday, the state criminal justice system’s handling of alleged mentally disturbed people such as Jones will be under scrutiny.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said she is proposing changes related to the state civil commitment law to more easily get mentally ill people who commit crimes into mandatory treatment.

The governor’s general counsel, Holly Agajanian, told a legislative committee last month that one proposed change would address arsonists, to include those who “have engaged in extreme destruction of property and that there is a reasonable probability that the conduct will be repeated.”

Another bill aims to end the revolving door of those who have been deemed incompetent to stand trial on criminal charges, and who are released back into the community, only to offend again.

“On the ground, people are saying to me, and I see it on the ground, too ... they don’t understand why they continue to be victimized over and over and over again, and nothing seems to happen,” Lujan Grisham told the Journal last week.

“Right now, if you are mentally incompetent, then there’s not much we can do,” she said.

The package of bills she is proposing includes a “median safety” bill that would make it a crime to occupy narrow medians on streets around the state. A fourth bill enhances penalties for being a felon in possession of firearm, while the fifth deals with law enforcement data collection.

“This month, the Governor and Legislature have a chance to pass bills that will immediately get dangerous people off our streets,” the governor’s website says. Passage of her proposals will “get desperately needed treatment to those struggling with substance abuse and mental illness,” it adds.

Longtime advocates for the mentally ill and the homeless have been vocal in their opposition to tackling the complex issue without further study, especially at a special legislative session expected to last only a few days.

“Please slow this down,” Albuquerque attorney Peter Cubra told the Courts, Corrections and Justice legislative committee last month. He said he has represented thousands of people “who get involved with the criminal justice system because of their psychiatric conditions.”

Cubra said the proposed changes need more study as they are more “controversial and impactful” than what has been pitched in the past eight legislative sessions with regard to forced mental health treatment.

“I don’t think this is about public safety,” said Winter Torres, an attorney and the founder and CEO of New Mexico Eviction Prevention and Diversion. “It’s about criminalizing homelessness.” She said there’s been a lack of community interaction or consultation on the measures.

Lujan Grisham pushes back by noting how people are afraid to travel to certain places, especially in Albuquerque.

“Streets in New Mexico aren’t safe and addressing this can’t wait,” states the governor’s website.

Her office released statistics culled from court records showing that more than 3,200 defendants have had their criminal cases dismissed since 2017 because they were deemed incompetent to stand trial.

Once charges are dismissed, they are free to go back to their communities. She said the majority of those cases have been in Albuquerque and many involve violent crimes.

How big an impact would the proposed changes have?

Lujan Grisham told the Journal last week that if “just 50 fewer people (were released) that’s 50 fewer victims.”

Chief Public Defender Ben Baur, who heads the state Law Offices of the Public Defender, released a statement that his office was reviewing the latest version of the governor’s competency bills, adding, “We are hoping we have the time to assess the implications of it for our clients and the court system.”

The LOPD recently released data that shows 6,996 cases handled by the agency since fiscal year 2020 have been closed because of an incompetency finding. Such cases represented about 2% to 3% of the annual closed criminal caseload.

Trail of court records

Over the years, Sly Jones’s address has been listed as 218 Iron SW, the Good Shepherd Homeless Shelter, according to booking sheets and criminal complaints. The records state he has no family.

Efforts to reach his defense attorney were unsuccessful Friday. The details of his competency evaluations are sealed in court records.

But prosecutors have argued since 2021 that Jones is a danger to the public.

Court records show:

In April 2021, Jones was charged with improper handling of fire, disorderly conduct and criminal damage to property after he was seen throwing rocks at a residence and lighting a dumpster and a shopping cart on fire. Officers located a total of six fires burning in the area. That case was dismissed in January 2022 because Jones was found incompetent to stand trial.

While he was out of jail awaiting trial on those charges, Jones was again arrested, in July 2021. Jones was observed starting a fire at 124 High SE, according to police. A total of four fires were discovered burning at the time in the neighborhood.

“Defendant went on a fire starting spree,” stated a pretrial detention motion filed by the Bernalillo County District Attorney’s Office. Fortunately, neighbors and homeowners were home to extinguish the blazes, the motion stated. “It’s clear that the defendant has no regard for the safety of others and he needs to be held in custody until this matter can be resolved at trial.”

But there was no trial. The case was dismissed in February 2022, after two mental health evaluations determined Jones was incompetent, He was released from jail, after being charged with igniting a fire, criminal damage to property, disorderly conduct and resisting a police officer.

By April 2023, Jones was back in police custody after another series of fires, one of which engulfed a vacant 1900s-era home on High SE. A homeowner who discovered part of his property also in flames that morning later chased Jones down. Albuquerque police who responded found Jones lying on the ground, crying.