JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A woman is asking for change in the legal system after the man she says attacked her last year was ruled incompetent for trial, held for psychiatric evaluation and released.
A few months later, when the same man was arrested for burglary and attempted sexual assault, he was again ruled incompetent for prosecution, but this time, remanded to the custody of the Department and Children and Families.
Sherri Jones is lobbying public officials, saying that more should be done in cases like this to make sure offenders aren’t just released back onto the streets.
Jones has sent letters to Mayor Lenny Curry, State Attorney Angela Corey and other representatives urging them to change what happens to someone ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation under Florida’s Baker Act multiple times after they commit a crime.
Jones said that Deandre Snelling began following her last April while she was on her morning walk near her Northside home. After a short time, he grabbed her.
"I just screamed for the top of my lungs for somebody to try to make it stop, because cars were going up and coming down," Jones said. "It just scared me."
Snelling, 31, was arrested and charged with a misdemeanor count of battery, but a month later a judge ruled him incompetent and sent him for mental evaluation under the Baker Act. That was the seventh time since 2006 that Snelling had been ordered to be evaluated under in Duval County.
After Snelling was released following that evaluation in June 2015, he was arrested for burglary and attempted sexual assault.
Jones said that something needs to be done, whether it is at the state level or higher, to allow offenders ruled incompetent to be monitored for longer than the short period that they are.
Rhonda Peoples-Waters, a local defense attorney, said it’s not that simple.
"We definitely have the issue that has been circulating for some time that the jail is not the proper place for persons to get that mental health treatment," Peoples-Waters said. "That is definitely the sentiment (in) misdemeanor cases."
After his arrest in June for burglary and attempted sexual battery, Snelling was placed in custody of the Florida Department of Children and Families. His next court hearing is in April, after which Jones worries might end with him being released again.
Peoples-Waters says this case is different than the previous ones.
"The court is limited when you're dealing with misdemeanors. Now that there is actually a circuit court and a felony case pending, the court will have a longer period of time where they can keep him for mental treatment," Peoples-Waters said.