Two psychologists have different opinions as to whether a Durango man suspected of felony assault is competent to stand trial.
Antonio Nez, 31, is accused of punching Davidson Curley Chee, 38, in the head and knocking him unconscious April 8 in the area behind Albertsons and the Downtown Durango Inn on the Animas River Trail. Chee was airlifted to St. Mary’s Hospital in Grand Junction with an epidural hematoma and skull fracture.
Dr. Loandra Torres Miller with the Mental Health Institute in Pueblo found Nez competent to stand trial, while Dr. J W Ragsdale of Durango found him incompetent.
Both presented their findings Tuesday in 6th Judicial District Court. District Judge Jeffrey Wilson plans to issue a ruling in the next couple of days as to whether Nez is competent to stand trial.
If he is found to be competent, prosecutors can proceed with criminal charges against him. If not, he will be sent to the state hospital in Pueblo to see if he can be restored to competency.
The legal definition of competency is based on a two-part test: whether the defendant has a factual and rational understanding of the proceedings against him, and whether he has the ability to consult with his lawyer to assist with his defense. It has less to do with mental illness than his overall understanding of the criminal proceeding.
During an assessment, Ragsdale said Nez often looked off to one side like he was distracted. He has a history of visual and auditory hallucinations, Ragsdale said.
When asked about the criminal justice process, he identified the defense attorney as the person who wants to put him in jail, and his knowledge of a judge and a jury were mostly derived from television crime shows.
Miller said Nez has impairment with planning and problem-solving, but not so much that he’s incapable of understanding the judicial process. He scored below a certain level on a test, indicating he could have cognitive problems that require further testing.
Police responded about 9 a.m. to the river trail to find Nez standing nearby with blood on his clothes. Officer John DiMatteo asked what he saw, and Nez said, “I did it,” according to an arrest affidavit. He took his right hand out of his pocket, and it had multiple lacerations.
On the way to the hospital, Nez said repeatedly that he “beat the (expletive) out of that (expletive),” according to the arrest affidavit.
“It was his fault. He shouldn’t have called me a Navajo,” he said at the hospital.
Nez, who stayed in local shelters and motels, had a blood-alcohol level of 0.355, more than four times the legal driving limit of 0.08.
shane@durangoherald.com
