AURORA, Colo. — A Douglas County judge decided in October that a man suspected of randomly shooting at people in 2018 wasn’t mentally competent to stand trial and that even with treatment, there was no hope he would be competent in the “reasonably foreseeable future.”
Once District Judge Ryan James Stuart made that decision, he had no choice but to dismiss attempted murder charges against Austin Benson, 35. He also dismissed charges against Benson in a second case in which he was accused of assaulting a hospital security guard and punching a nurse.
Now Benson is being held on $2 million bail, suspected of randomly shooting three people last Thursday evening in an Aurora neighborhood.
A 50-year-old woman suffered life-threatening injuries when she was shot and wounded in a car in the 4400 block of South Eagle Circle. A short time later, a 36-year-old man and a 64-year-old woman walking in the 4600 block of South Crystal Way suffered gunshot wounds.
Court documents obtained by 9NEWS Investigates show that the 2018 Douglas County case began when a driver in a stolen car fired shots at people along Rampart Range Road. The shooter flattened tires on at least one vehicle but didn’t injure anyone.
Prosecutors charged him with numerous counts including three counts of attempted murder. A few weeks later, Benson posted $50,000 bail and was released.
In December 2019, prosecutors charged Benson with assaulting nurses and security guards at Parker Adventist Hospital.
After that, Benson’s attorney raised questions about whether he was mentally competent to proceed.
“It's a legal construct, which refers to a charged person's current capacity or ability to function meaningfully and knowingly in a legal proceeding,” said criminal defense attorney Ryan Brackley, a former prosecutor. “In plain English, can they assist their lawyer in representing them? Do they understand what's happening? Do they understand who the different players are?”
Doctors who evaluated Benson concluded he was not competent to stand trial.
The case dragged on until October 2023, when Stuart concluded that “there is not a substantial probability that he will be restored to competency within the reasonably foreseeable future” and dismissed the two cases.
In a statement, 18th Judicial District Attorney John Kellner called Colorado's competency system "broken" and said district attorneys have been raising the alarm for years. He said the law requires a judge dismiss a case if a defendant is found incompetent and not restorable within the reasonably foreseeable future.
"After that, there's little to no safety net to deal with potentially dangerous mentally ill people," he said.
In Benson's case, the Colorado Office of Behavioral Health found him incompetent to stand trial and also that he didn't meet the criteria for civil commitment, Kellner said.
“It's a very tough situation for a court to be in, or a prosecutor or anyone, really, in our system to, you know, wonder what could happen – what could go wrong,” Brackley said. “It's a nightmare scenario for a judge, regardless of how hard they worked or how hard they tried to resolve this in a fair way.”
Benson is due back in court on the Aurora shootings on Friday, when prosecutors are expected to file formal charges.
Contact 9NEWS investigator Kevin Vaughan with tips about this or any story: kevin.vaughan@9news.com or 303-871-1862.
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