NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – It’s 3 a.m. March 3, 2024, outside the popular Old Town bar, Outpost 1706 Brewhouse. A hooded stranger is up to no good. He shatters the front door with a rock, climbs through broken glass, and burglarizes the facility. Video surveillance leads detectives to arrest 28-year-old Michael Benevides. “If there was ever an open and shut case, it would be Michael Benevides,” said former State Police Chief and Outpost 1706 Brewhouse owner, Pete Kassetas. Armed with evidence catching Benevides in the act of breaking into his bar, Kassetas said the police “got him dead to rights.” But if you thought compelling evidence is enough in a criminal case, think again. Was justice done in the break-in case of Michael Benevides? “Absolutely not. Justice was not done,” bar owner Pete Kassetas said.
Since 2017, Michael Benevides has been arrested 19 times for everything from auto burglary to battery on a peace officer, yet not once has he gone to trial. Each time he’s arrested, his case is dismissed in court.
Jerry Perea has been repeatedly arrested for everything from burglary, battery, and armed robbery to false imprisonment, child abuse, and assault. Perea has been charged in two dozen criminal cases. However, in court, they were all dismissed.
Frederick Acosta, 32, has been accused of unlawful activity in 28 separate criminal cases. None went to trial.
Benevides, Perea, and Acosta are just three examples of repeat criminal defendants who escaped justice multiple times, not because they’re lucky, but because they’re mentally ill. Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman said the criminal justice system is “absolutely not” working in how it handles mentally ill individuals who commit crimes. “Right now, when it comes to competency in the criminal justice system, it is the ultimate revolving door … and it makes me sick to my stomach,” Bregman said.
In New Mexico, defendants who are believed to be mentally ill are examined by psychologists to evaluate their fitness to stand trial. “The law requires that a defendant understands certain things and participate in their defense, and understand the charges against them. And if they don’t, then they’re incompetent to stand trial,” UNM Clinical Psychologist Dr. Jeff Younggren said. Defendants who are evaluated and found to be incompetent to stand trial are usually set free, and their charges are dropped. There are exceptions, but for the most part, that’s the law.
For example, after 58-year-old Loyola Volpert was arrested in 2020 for shoplifting, criminal damage to property, trespass, and assault, a judge ruled she was incompetent to stand trial, and the charges were tossed out. Since 2019, Volpert has been charged with unlawful activity and found to be incompetent to stand trial in 30 separate cases.
Loyola Volpert lapel arrest video below:
KRQE News 13’s investigation finds a multitude of defendants wreaking havoc on court dockets overloaded with mentally ill defendants. Due to strict state laws that protect the civil rights of defendants, judges are powerless to hold them accountable. In most cases, the only option is to dismiss cases and release accused offenders from jail.
Pierre Williams, 39, has been charged with criminal activity in 115 cases. However, each time he is hauled into court, Williams is ruled incompetent, and the cases are dismissed. “What’s wrong with this picture is people who are committing crimes are being let back out in the community to commit more crimes,” D.A. Sam Bregman said. “Someone being arrested 100 times, come on, that’s ridiculous. It’s crazy that they keep getting arrested. It’s not even close to justice,” Bregman said.
According to New Mexico’s Chief Public Defender, Ben Baur, the justice system does not do a very good job of keeping mentally ill defendants from committing more crimes. “The criminal justice system is not equipped to always bring justice or closure in everybody’s eyes, and that’s heartbreaking to me sometimes. But it’s the reality,” Baur said.
University of New Mexico Law School Criminal Law Professor Joshua Kastenberg said it’s nearly impossible to hold mentally ill defendants accountable for their actions. “There’s been an acceptance in this country that you cannot convict someone and find them guilty under the law unless they’re competent to stand trial. That’s a case we teach every law student in criminal law,” Kastenberg said. “For the most part, individuals who are deemed not competent to stand trial are released on the street. They’re out on the street because the system that we have in place does not have an alternative,” Professor Kastenberg said.
In Las Cruces, 32-year-old Ruben Rincon has been arrested 127 times for offenses ranging from criminal trespass and stalking to burglary and domestic violence violations. The Doña Ana County district attorney has filed more than 50 criminal cases against Rincon, however, they were all abandoned due to his mental incompetence.
Mentally ill defendants who commit violent offenses can also escape justice. In 2017, 15-year-old Marquise Prudhomme was charged with Attempted Murder, Aggravated Assault With A Deadly Weapon, and Unlawful Carrying of a Handgun. However, because he was found to be incompetent to stand trial, the charges were all dismissed. As an adult, Prudhomme has been in and out of the criminal justice system.
In 2017, 22-year-old Larry Vieux was indicted on Second Degree Murder and Robbery charges. The court case was thrown out, and Vieux was released from jail after it was determined he had an intellectual disability and was incompetent to stand trial.
Larry Vieux lapel arrest video below:
Some mentally ill defendants who are found to be “dangerous” (as defined in statute) can be ordered to New Mexico’s State Hospital (Behavioral Health Institute) in Las Vegas for up to 9 months. In 2023, 48-year-old Geraldine Begay was indicted on charges of Second Degree Murder and Voluntary Manslaughter. After an evaluation, she was found to be incompetent to stand trial. But instead of ordering Begay to the secure facility at the State Hospital for treatment, Judge Lucy Soliman ruled Begay was “not dangerous”. As a result of that ruling, the Second Degree Murder charge was dismissed, and Begay was set free. Judge Soliman did not return a phone call for comment.
After a psychological evaluation, Travis Greenwood was found to be incompetent to stand trial. However, after Judge Courtney Weaks ruled Greenwood was “not dangerous”, the indictment was dismissed and Greenwood was released from jail. “It’s really unfortunate everybody loses here,” Greenwood’s ex-wife, Julie Turner, said. “I lost as the victim because he’s out on the street. He lost being out on the street because he has nowhere to go. Therefore, he has nothing to lose,” Turner said. Judge Courtney Weaks did not respond to a request for comment.
Not all “dangerous” mentally ill defendants are released from custody. John Hyde, 48, has been locked up at the State Hospital for 20 years. In 2005, Hyde went on a shooting spree and murdered a state transportation worker, two motorcycle shop employees, and two police officers. Because he was found to be incompetent to stand trial, Hyde was sent to the state hospital to treat his mental illness. Unless his competency can be restored so that he can stand trial on the murder charges, Hyde will likely spend the rest of his life at the Behavioral Health Institute in Las Vegas, New Mexico.
According to UNM Clinical Psychologist Dr. Jeff Younggren, there is no justice for mentally ill defendants who commit crimes and then are released back into the community. “It’s not justice for society. It’s not justice for the individual,” Dr. Younggren said. “In a system where somebody repeats a crime over and over and the end result of that is nothing changes. Well, if nothing changes, nothing changes. They go out and they do it over again. They have no respect for society’s rules,” Dr. Younggren said.
“Our criminal justice system is not good at dealing with repeat offenders who are deemed incompetent and yet continue to commit crimes,” UNM Law School Professor Joshua Kastenberg said. “When you leave your home to go to your car in the morning, you don’t want to have to look over your shoulder. You don’t want to worry about somebody who’s speaking out loud to other individuals who aren’t there in a threatening manner, and worry is this person coming after me, or are they just in a delusion and they haven’t harmed anyone. Those are the kinds of things that we all want for ourselves and for our neighbors and other people. And so that’s why this matters,” Professor Kastenberg said.
“We certainly have done no justice for the victims. We’ve done no justice for the community. And really, we haven’t done any justice for the person who is suffering from the mental illness and continues to be in our justice system, in this revolving door, going in and out and really at the end of the day, getting no sustained help,” D.A. Sam Bregman said.
At this year’s legislative session, lawmakers enacted reforms aimed at enhancing the state’s criminal competency laws. By providing more treatment options to mentally ill defendants, experts say the new legislation will enable the state’s criminal justice system to better respond to the mentally ill. It will likely take several years before the new legislation has a measurable impact on criminal incompetence.
Watch Extended Interviews
