Judge reschedules trial setting for man charged in 2017 fire-bombing spree

A trial date is still likely to be scheduled in the coming months for a 43-yearold Fairfield man, declared to be mentally competent last year and is charged with two counts of attempted murder in connection to firebombings and a hate crime in 2017.

Matthew Scott Jones was scheduled to appear March 19 in Department 9 for a readiness conference and a trial setting, but court records indicate the matter has been rescheduled at 8:30 a.m. May 11 in the same department, Judge Carlos R. Gutierrez’s courtroom, in the Justice Center in Fairfield

Besides the attempted murder charges, Jones also faces charges of causing an explosion with intent to murder; arson of an inhabited structure; three counts of use of an explosive device to destroy property; and possession of a destructive device in a public place, District Attorney Krishna Abrams noted in a press release.

Court records indicate that at 10 p.m. April 27, 2017, Fairfield police officers responded to a fire at the Woodsong Village Apartments on North Texas Street. Upon investigation, the officers determined a homemade explosive device had been thrown through the window of an occupied apartment there.

Both victims were able to escape the apartment; however, the explosive device caused “substantial damage” to the apartment, Abrams said in the prepared statement. Police records also indicate that Jones had been using racial slurs toward his neighbors in the apartment complex.

About 30 minutes later, Fairfield officers responded to a report of a vehicle fire on Thames Court. During the investigation, they determined a homemade explosive device had been thrown through the window of a parked vehicle.

On the following morning, at about 1 a.m., there was another explosion in front of the Fairfield Police Department. During that investigation, it was later determined that a homemade explosive device had been thrown toward the department entrance at 1000 WebsterSt. At 10 a.m. that same morning, the officers located a fourth homemade explosive device at the Nexeo chemical plant on Crocker Circle.

With the help of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, investigators were able to determine that Jones was responsible for all four incidents and he was later arrested and booked into Solano County Jail in Fairfield.

For a time, Jones was deemed mentally incompetent. The case was removed from control of the Solano County Superior Court in May 2019. Jones was committed to a state hospital on May 30, 2019, for a maximum of two years, court records show. He was deemed mentally competent to stand trial on Sept. 1, 2020, and criminal proceedings were reinstated on Sept. 18.

Under the law, a defendant who is incompetent cannot be tried or convicted while the incompetency lasts. Some defendants are considered permanently incompetent, often because of mental illness, while others are deemed incompetent for a period of time. They can be tried as soon as they are declared competent.

Jones’ case was previously suspended on March 12, 2018, and, three days later, Gutierrez appointed a doctor to examine the defendant and to determine his mental competency to stand trial and the need to administer antipsychotic drugs.

Criminal proceedings were reinstated on Dec. 5, 2018, the same day a confidential verdict was delivered, according to court records. A jury had found Jones competent to stand trial.

Arguments by Deputy District Attorney Mary Nguyen appeared to have swayed the panel of eight men and four women, with her noting that the defendant was “able to articulate” to FBI and Fairfield police investigators why he did what he allegedly did.

During the trial, Deputy Public Defender Sara Johnson noted that Jones suffers from schizoaffective disorder, a hybrid mental condition that includes schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and depression. She said her client suffers from delusions, claiming Jones’ alleged violent acts were essentially symptomatic of someone experiencing the same “fixed delusions,” that attorneys and the community at large were persecuting him.

Besides the attempted murder charges, Jones also faces charges of causing an explosion with intent to murder; arson of an inhabited structure; three counts of use of an explosive device to destroy property; and possession of a destructive device in a public place.