BAKER COUNTY, Fla. – Vergilio Aguilar-Mendez, 19, a migrant farm worker who was charged with manslaughter in the death of Sgt. Michael Kunovich, was released from federal custody in Baker County Friday.
He had been imprisoned in multiple detention facilities over the past ten months. He was seen smiling leaving the Baker County detention facility alongside his attorney, Phillip Arroyo.
“Today’s a beautiful day. I think today is the embodiment of what our constitution stands for. We don’t live in a perfect country. But the powers that our constitution provide, at the end of the day pulled through, and despite of the injustice that Bill Healio had to live through. He was in prison for close to 10 months. Today. Finally he will be released from federal custody. It took a long journey to get here. It took a village,” Arroyo said after his client was released.
Sgt. Kunovich died of a heart attack after his encounter with Aguilar-Mendez in May of last year. Earlier this month, the charges against Aguilar-Mendez were dropped. He was accused of resisting arrest and aggravated manslaughter in the death of the veteran St. Johns County deputy sergeant.
“I think the State Attorney’s Office knew a long time ago that this case should have been dropped. Why they took almost 10 months to do it. That’s something you guys are going to have to ask. And that’s something that Volusia County voters are going to have to remember when they go to the voting to the voting booth and the same thing applies to Sheriff Robert Hardwick,” Arroyo said Friday.
According to the State Attorney’s Office, that decision to drop charges comes “following recent expert testimony regarding the defendant’s inability to comprehend the English language, his cultural background and concerns about his intellectual capacity have raised significant issues to consider in the case.”
In May of 2023, Sgt. Kunovich approached 18-year-old Vergilio Aguilar-Mendez, who in the body camera video was seen eating dinner outside a closed St. Augustine restaurant and talking on the phone.
RELATED: A timeline of the Vergilio Aguilar-Mendez case | St. Johns County deputy who died after struggle with migrant may have had heart attack before encounter, autopsy finds
His attorney later said he was talking to his mother. Sgt. Kunovich, who, according to the arrest report, believed the teen was engaged in suspicious behavior, asked him for ID. In the video, it appears he didn’t understand, telling the deputy he didn’t speak English.
Sgt. Kunovich tries to pat him down, a struggle ensues, and the deputy tries to tase him. Aguilar-Mendez was wrestled to the ground and arrested.
After the encounter, Sgt. Kunovich, collapsed. He died on the way to the hospital. The medical examiner said it was a heart attack and that he had preexisting cardiovascular issues.
Aguilar Mendez was initially charged with felony murder of a police officer and resisting arrest. The murder charge was later downgraded to aggravated manslaughter of a police officer.
According to Aguilar Mendez’s attorney, his client migrated to the U.S. from Guatemala through the southern border and was held in federal detention facility before being released to his father’s family in central Florida. He moved to St. Augustine to work on a farm, and was living in a hotel, sending money to his family in Guatemala.
Aguilar Mendez has been in custody since his initial arrest– but a judge eventually ruled he was not competent to stand trial because of “educational, cultural, and linguistic challenges,” as he speaks a local dialect. In February, his attorney filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office claiming Aguilar Mendez’s rights were violated because deputies involved knew he had limited English language proficiency but did not try to communicate with him in another language.
March 1, the State Attorney’s Office dropped the charges against him. He was transferred to the custody of Homeland Security to await his immigration hearing.
Arroyo said Agular Menendez is looking forward to being reunited with his father and his community.
According to another attorney, Aguilar Mendez migrated to the U.S. from Guatemala through the southern border and was held in federal detention facility before being released to his father’s family in central Florida. He moved to St. Augustine to work on a farm, and was living in a hotel, sending money to his family in Guatemala at the time of the incident.
Arroyo tells me his client was technically here legally and has always appeared at his immigration hearings.