Thumbnail photo by Amanda Dockter
A Del Norte County judge denied a request to determine if the 27-year-old man accused of killing 13-year-old Dante Romannose-Jones when he was still a teenager himself is competent enough to assist in his own defense.
During a hearing in juvenile court on Wednesday, Crescent City attorney James Fallman asked to have his client, Nathan Feliz, evaluated by a psychiatrist for competency.
Fallman told Judge Darrin McElfresh that the defendant, who was 16 years old in 2015 when Romannose-Jones was shot and killed in Klamath, ended a conversation mid-sentence when he tried to discuss options with him.
McElfresh said the defendant appeared competent to him. He urged Fallman to try to talk with his client again, stating that he was unwilling to spend “even one cent of taxpayers’ money” on an evaluation without more substantial evidence.
“The only evidence you provided to me is what you just stated, that (Feliz) cut off your visit and would not listen to your suggestions nor give you any information about the case,” McElfresh said. “That doesn’t cause any concerns necessary for the court to reconvene. The pleadings that have been provided in the court show that he’s been a previous inmate in CDCR and most experienced inmates will not give case details to the lawyer. That’s common knowledge because they’ve learned that they can flex their defense more effectively, but it’s not communicating case issues.”
Del Norte County District Attorney Katherine Micks filed one count of murder with a special allegation for use of a firearm against Feliz, who was arrested in Ukiah on July 20. The case had been initiated in juvenile court, Micks told Redwood Voice Community News on July 21.
Following Wednesday’s hearing, Micks told KFUG Community Radio’s Heather Polen that she has filed a motion to transfer the case against Feliz to adult court.
McElfresh ordered Emily Johnson with Del Norte County Probation Department to investigate whether the defendant’s case should continue to go through the juvenile court system and submit a report, Micks said. That should take about four weeks.
The next hearing in the case has been scheduled for Sept. 17.
After Romannose-Jones was killed in a Klamath residential area, Micks’s predecessor, former District Attorney Dale Trigg, arraigned Feliz as an adult on murder charges with a firearm special allegation. Trigg dismissed the case based on what he felt was a lack of evidence, Micks said Wednesday.
“He was 16 when the crime was committed and under California law, you have to file the case in juvenile court if a person is under 18 when the crime was committed,” she said, declining to elaborate further on the evidence.
During the hearing, Fallman said the cost for a psychiatrist to evaluate whether Feliz can assist in his own defense wouldn’t be $3,000 or $4,000, contradicting a statement from McElfresh.
“I’m going through the massive discovery from prior cases, and this one thing that keeps popping up is a certain kind of drug that I’m not familiar with that is present,” Fallman said. “I don’t know if he’s recently been on that and that’s affecting him in some way, but I know that he is not in the verbal mindset that I’m used to having every day with clients.”
McElfresh still insisted that there was insufficient evidence to suspend proceedings while a psychiatrist evaluated Feliz, but he would be happy to reconsider. The judge urged Fallman to talk with his client one more time.
“One attempt at a talk where he doesn’t want to talk because maybe he doesn’t trust you, you’ve not developed a rapport, is not … he’s insane or he’s not competent,” McElfresh said.
Fallman agreed to try to communicate with his client further.
