JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A mental competency hearing was held Friday for an 18-year-old facing a manslaughter accusation in the death of a St. Johns County deputy.
Vergilio Aguilar-Mendez, who is from Guatemala, participated in the court proceedings through an interpreter as defense and state experts presented their findings on whether he should be considered mentally competent to stand trial.
Psychologists described Aguilar-Mendez’s thinking as concrete.
“He didn’t know names of charges. He couldn’t understand that he was being accused of manslaughter and someone dying,” Forensic and Clinical Psychologist Dr. Yenys Castill said.
Psychologists also said he has a 6th grade level education, tends to answer “yes” no matter the question, gives inconsistent information, and has trouble retaining information.
In addition, his primary language is called Mam, a dialect adopted from Spanish.
Two defense witnesses believe Aguilar-Mendez is intellectually disabled.
The court was also asked to consider the cultural aspects of where Aguilar-Mendez is from.
Mari Blanco, with the Guatemalan-Myan Center told the court Aguilar-Mendez is from a small rural village in the mountains of Guatemala. She said genocide was prominent in his community starting in the 1960s. The ‘bloodiest’ times being in the 80s when villages were wiped out by military police.
Even though the time frame presented predates Aguilar-Mendez’s birth, she said his parents would’ve been affected by it and his grandparents.
“The fears and ramifications are still there,” said Blanco.
The state’s argument includes transcripts from when Aguilar-Mendez was questioned by detectives using a translator.
In the transcripts, Aguilar-Mendez answered the majority of the detectives’ questions.
“Well, we heard testimony today from two of the three experts and also representative from the Guatemalan Mayan center, that there’s cultural issues there that could be interrelated to his mental health issues, where they seem to just agree and go along with everything. Because if they don’t, it’s a sign of disrespect,” Civil Attorney Phillip Arroyo said.
The state also questioned Aguilar-Mendez’s best effort to understand what was going on.
Their witness recommended he is competent to proceed even though he is unfamiliar with the legal system in the U.S. and performed poorly during their interviews.
The state’s witness, Dr. Roger Davis, a forensic psychologist questioned the position of the defense witnesses who found Aguilar-Mendez to have an intellectual disability.
Dr. Davis argued if he had an intellectual disability, he would need more support than what he has to be able to do what he was doing before this incident, like living with roommates, buying food, performing work, ect.
He said it’s hard to say he has an intellectual disability without testing.
The defense argued Dr. Davis didn’t ask Aguilar-Mendez how he was able to get to work, manage his money, get food, or even how he got to the country.
After all the testimony Friday, Judge R. Lee Smith said he was going to take some time to consider everything that had been presented.
“I will think about this a little bit more. This is a complex situation, as we can all agree,” Smith said, adding that he would either reconvene court to announce his ruling or issue a written order.
The bond hearing that was also set for Friday will be postponed until after Smith makes his decision. However, during his court appearance on Friday, the judge acknowledged that Aguilar-Mendez is entitled to bond since he is not charged with a capital felony. This is something the state agreed with.
If the charges are not dropped, Aguilar-Mendez’s attorney wants him released or to have his bond set at no more than $50,000.
However, even if he were let out, there is an immigration hold on him, so he would be taken into federal custody, making it a challenge to face the charges in this case.
If the judge does not think Aguilar Mendez can proceed, the defense recommends he be sent to a forensic hospital where he would get competency training.
If the judge decides he can proceed, the state wants him to remain in their custody, even though they acknowledge his language is an issue.
Considering the immigration hold, according to Aguilar Mendez’s civil attorney, he would be turned over into federal custody. He would not be deported immediately and would still have to face the charges here.
“So we’re talking about a victim of police brutality, who not only did not understand English, but has mental health issues. And that’s something that when the moment comes, the appropriate parties will have to respond to be held accountable,” Arroyo said.
In May, a confrontation between Aguilar-Mendez and St. Johns County Sgt. Michael Kunovich happened after Kunovich reported a suspicious person standing outside of a closed business near the St. Augustine Outlets.
After a struggle with Aguilar-Mendez as he tried to search and detain him, Kunovich collapsed and later died at the hospital.
According to the medical examiner, Kunovich’s cause of death was cardiac dysrhythmia, the result of damaged arteries and high blood pressure. The manner of his death was “natural” and the contributing cause was “physical exertion and possible emotional stress while apprehending a fleeing suspect.”
Aguilar-Mendez’s civil attorney Phillip Arroyo issued a statement following the release of a lengthy sheriff’s office report.
“In light of these revelations, we implore the Office of the State Attorney for the 7th Judicial Circuit of Florida to drop all charges against Mr. Aguilar-Mendez and that he be released from jail where he has been for the past seven months for a crime he did not commit,” Arroyo wrote in part.
Timeline
Some of the most significant developments in the case happened this week, and it’s not over yet.
Here’s a look back at how the case unfolded.
May 19, 2023: Kunovich approaches a man at a closed business next to a Super 8 Hotel off State Road 16 in St. Augustine. At this point, we knew there was a struggle between Kunovich and the man. Following the struggle, Kunovich collapsed and died at the hospital. Aguilar-Mendez was charged with felony murder and resisting an officer with violence.
May 25: St. Johns County Sheriff Robert Hardwick spoke publicly about the incident at a “violence against police” news conference. The next day, Sky 4 flew over the funeral service for Kunovich.
June 8: The autopsy on Kunovich is done but the results were not released until Dec. 20.
July 21: The felony murder charge for Aguilar-Mendez is reduced to aggravated manslaughter.
Aug. 1: Aguilar-Mendez’s defense attorney ordered a psychological evaluation. By Oct. 11, the evaluation is done.
Nov. 21: Aguilar-Mendez’s defense attorney files a motion for a hearing and to set bond. In the filing, it was revealed that Aguilar-Mendez speaks very little English and was waiting on a court date for an immigration hearing, and was working at local farms in St. Augustine while staying at the Super 8 hotel.
The defense filing also said Kunovich died from a heart attack and released body camera video of the incident. The video showed a language barrier and a minutes-long struggle to detain him.
(The video may be disturbing for some viewers, so discretion is strongly advised. News4JAX is only publishing the first two minutes of the nine-minute video to be transparent, as well as respectful to the families. The video gives an unedited view of what happened leading up to the arrest.)
Dec. 11: Aguilar-Mendez’s family in Guatemala retains a civil attorney.
Dec. 15: National media outlets start picking up the story.
Dec. 19: News4JAX tried to speak with Hardwick about the incident, but he declined to comment.
Dec. 20: The Sheriff’s Office released a 44-page incident report with several accounts from deputies who responded to the call, an interview with Aguilar-Mendez and the medical examiner’s report.
Dec. 22: Court hearing on Aguilar-Mendez’s mental competency. The judge is considering testimony and will rule later.