Mental competency puts rape pleas in limbo

OAKLAND >> After an East Bay man accepted a 92-year prison term for charges of sexually assaulting strangers in attacks around the Bay Area, his attorney has raised doubts about his mental competency, leading to a suspension of the criminal case, court records show.

Damon Jones, 46, faces charges of kidnapping and raping or attempting to rape three women in random attacks in Oakland, San Leandro and Hayward. In January, he pleaded no contest to a host of felony charges that added up to 92 years in prison and was set to be formally sentenced on April 4.

But before that could take place, Jones' public defender, Roz Silvaggio, invoked a California law that pertains to criminal defendants who may not be mentally competent to face the charges. Silvaggio said she believed Jones has a developmental disability that inhibits his ability to understand the consequences of the case.

Prosecutors opposed the move, writing in a motion that the proceedings shouldn't be suspended based on Silvaggio's word alone.

At Jones' change-of-plea hearing, Judge Yolanda Northridge accepted Jones' no contest pleas and said on the record that Jones “understands the nature and consequence of his pleas and has expressly, knowingly and intelligently waived his constitutional rights,” according to a hearing transcript. At a June 16 hearing, a different judge, Kevin Murphy, agreed to suspend the criminal proceedings pending a mental evaluation, and ordered Jones to be transferred to a hospital, court records show.

Jones was accused of three attacks that occurred in November and December 2017, and in March 2018. In all three cases, the assailant purported to have a weapon and took the woman to a secluded area where he sexually assaulted her, prosecutors allege. Jones was linked by DNA to two of the incidents, and eyewitness identification in another, court records show.

Once a mental doubt is declared, a criminal defendant is governed by a complex set of laws with several possible outcomes. If Jones is found incompetent to stand trial, the criminal proceedings can be suspended until he is found to be “restored” to competency. If he's found not guilty by reason of insanity, he can be held in a hospital until he recovers from his mental illness, or as long as he would have been in prison for the offenses. Conversely, if he's found competent, the criminal proceedings will resume.

Then there's the issue of hospital bed availability; in California, a statewide hospital bed shortage has led to defendants in some cases being held in jails for weeks or months after they have been ordered to a hospital for a mental competency evaluation. The ongoing issue has resulted in sanctions against the Department of State Hospitals and case law out of Contra Costa that imposes a 60-day deadline for such transfers.