Attempted murder case dismissed against man
A Fairfield man charged with attempted murder, whose case wound through Solano County courts for more than 10 years, has been released from custody and the case dismissed, The Reporter has learned.
Judge John B. Ellis on Nov. 13, 2020, dismissed the case against Stephen Earl Scally, 56, after the defendant was originally scheduled for a September heldto-answer arraignment and further proceedings, court records indicated.
Why Ellis dismissed the case was unclear, and Deputy District Attorney William Ainsworth, who led the prosecution, said in a text message to The Reporter on Wednesday that he did not “want to speak for the court as to the reason it was dismissed.”
Ainsworth opposed the dismissal. It is unclear if the Public Defender, which represented Scally, urged the judge to dismiss the case against the defendant. At the time of the dismissal, according to Ainsworth, Scally was “under a conservatorship, housed in a board-and-care facility, based on a traumatic brain injury he suffers from.”
Court records show that documents pertaining to the judge’s decision were sent to the Department of Justice on Jan. 1, the last entry in court records available to the public.
Scally, who made his first court appearance more than five years ago, was accused of shooting into his neighbor’s home on Feb. 18, 2010. Since that time, the case made its way through local courts in fits and starts — in part because of concerns about his mental competency and, later, reduced court operations and public health directives amid the ongoing pandemic.
After a July 3, 2018, court appearance, Scally returned to Ellis’ courtroom for a preliminary hearing on July 11, when details of the alleged crime emerged.
Scally was arrested at gunpoint several hours after the shooting after residents in the 300 block of Tulip Street called Fairfield police dispatchers to report that someone was firing a rifle or shotgun at a house. Fairfield police and Solano County sheriff’s deputies later surrounded the neighborhood, closing off streets and locking down a nearby daycare facility.
The gunman, later identified as Scally, had retreated inside his home. Police, positioned behind an armored Bearcat rescue vehicle, spent more than an hour trying to communicate with him.
Police records indicate Scally eventually emerged from his home unarmed and surrendered to officers without further incident.
No injuries were reported as a result of the gunfire.
Scally, who spent time at Atascadero State Hospital in an attempt to restore his mental competency, pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted murder with use of a firearm, shooting into an occupied dwelling, and possession of a firearm and ammunition by a previously convicted felon.
At the 2018 preliminary hearing, police investigators and the residents of the Tulip Street home, Edward and Cynthia Kidd, husband and wife, recounted the terror of Scally’s actions on Feb. 18.
After additional proceedings in early 2019, Ainsworth said Scally was no longer in Solano County Jail custody or in a state hospital but was in some sort of conditional release program in Northern California.
At the time, he said Scally was still deemed incompetent to stand trial, and Ainsworth said the Public Defender asked for a dismissal of the charges. Ellis denied the request, however, at that time.