HOUSTON – Five of the seven defendants are charged with violent crimes. In about the last month, we’ve found a total of 10 defendants who skip bond after being found competent to stand trial and are nowhere to be found. It makes us wonder how many more are out there.
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Defendants accused of violent crimes missing after being found competent to stand trial
What they’re saying:
“You’re having defendants in a state hospital who are rapidly deemed competent in a matter of months and are then back in the community, and we put them back out here with absolutely no safeguards,” said Andy Kahan with Houston Crime Stoppers.
Several of these defendants found competent are accused of committing violent crimes.
30-year-old Andres Hurtado has a lengthy criminal history. His most recent charge is for assaulting a police officer.
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38-year-old Zachary Ayers is charged with assault with a deadly weapon.
The most concerning is 52-year-old Hongyin Yang. He’s charged with injury to a child.
“He comes up to an 11-year-old stranger and an 11-year-old boy, there’s no relationship, total stranger, and he starts beating him, hitting him,” said Kahan. “And then he starts beating the mom, and then when witnesses try to intervene, he’s throwing rocks at them and their cars. This guy has some serious issues.”
Fixing the ever-growing problem of people with mental health issues in the criminal justice system won’t be easy. But people need to be aware of this alarming trend, because it’s a threat to public safety.
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