JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – After taking time to consider testimony from a Dec. 22 mental competency hearing, Judge R. Lee Smith found an 18-year-old from Guatemala not competent for prosecution in the death of a St. Johns County deputy.
Smith ordered Vergilio Aguilar-Mendez to be given treatment while in custody.
In their argument that Smith should find Aguilar-Mendez not competent to stand trial, his attorneys cited four concerns, saying that the 18-year-old:
- Can’t aid in the preparation of his defense
- Does not appear to appreciate the nature of the charge against him or the range and nature of possible penalties
- Does not appear to understand the adversary nature of the legal process and does not appear to understand the role of his public defender
- Has a significant deficit in his understanding of the legal system
Aguilar-Mendez participated in the Dec. 22 hearing through an interpreter as defense and state experts presented their findings on whether he should be considered mentally competent to stand trial.
Psychologists testified for the defense during that hearing that Aguilar-Mendez has a sixth-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.
The state argued that in transcripts from his interview with detectives -- using a translator --Aguilar-Mendez answered the majority of the detectives’ questions.
The state also questioned Aguilar-Mendez’s best effort to understand what was going on.
Belkis Plata, a lawyer not associated with the case, said the ruling means the criminal proceedings will stop for now while Aguilar-Mendez goes through treatment.
“The clock will stop ticking for the time being, nothing else will be happening in the criminal case until the judge finds him competent to proceed, which can be something that doesn’t happen for several months,” she said.
The defense recommended that Aguilar-Mendez be sent to a forensic hospital where he would get competency training.
“It’s about educating the person on the criminal justice system, on their rights, on the possible punishments for their offense, on communication styles with their attorneys,” Plata 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.”
Plata also explained the next steps in the case with the competency training.
“What happens is when an order comes down, finding someone incompetent to proceed, it’s normally a six-month pass date before the next court hearing, to allow someone six months to obtain training,” Plata said. “The order comes down. It goes to the agency that going to be providing the services, and they pick up the individual, take them to their facility and begin the process. They will conduct their own evaluations with their doctors and provide reports to the court about how the person is doing then at that point, the six-month court date comes, they will be evaluated again.”
Then, Plata said, the judge will decide if Aguilar-Mendez is competent to proceed.
Timeline
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.
Dec. 29: Judge R. Lee Smith finds Aguilar-Mendez not competent for prosecution.