N.M Attorney General’s Office urges Dept. of Health to exercise authority over Justin Quintana case

The New Mexico Attorney General’s Office is urging the Department of Health to exercise its authority in keeping Justin Quintana in custody.

Quintana stood trial for the murder of his mother, but was declared not guilty by reason of insanity.

In a letter obtained by ABC-7, Deputy Attorney General Sharon Pino writes to Department of Health Cabinet Secretary Lynn Gallagher to keep Quintana in custody by exercising the New Mexico Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Code. Under the code, the district attorney’s office has the authority to petition the district court for an initial 30-day commitment for evaluation and treatment.

The letter states after the 30-day commitment, it is the responsibility of of the treating physician or evaluation facility to seek an extended treatment, stating: “If the evaluation facility is the Behavioral Health Institute, then the Department of Health bears the responsibility for any petition seeking extended commitment.”

Pino states they fear Quintana may pose a threat to the community which is why they’re urging the department to exercise its statutory authority and evaluate whether a petition of extended commitment is appropriate.

“We are deeply concerned that to date, the Dept. of Health has not requested our assistance or provided us with any records that would allow us to assist the Department in pursuing an extended commitment.”

ABC-7’s New Mexico Mobile Newsroom learned Quintana will be released Sunday to a half-way house in Albuquerque. The decision to release Quintana was made during a hearing Friday afternoon in Las Cruces.

Governor Susana Martinez told ABC-7’s New Mexico Mobile Newsroom Quintana should be detained and tried for the crime. He was being treated for competency, and by releasing him, Quintana now becomes a threat to the community. “This is a complete injustice for State Police Officer Susan Kuchma by District Attorney D’Antonio. The defendant has been found competent under the law and must be tried for his crimes,” the governor said.

In January 2018, ABC-7 reported prosecutors, the defense attorney and Quintana’s own family agreed Quintana should not be released. Quintana admitted gunning down his mother, New Mexico State Police Officer Susan Kuchma, with her own service weapon in 2007.

During the summer of 2017, a judge ruled Quintana was “a danger to himself and to others and should be kept in a treatment facility until he is sane or no longer dangerous.”

Since Quintana was declared not guilty by reason of insanity, it could have been a violation of his civil rights to detain him indefinitely. Doctors diagnosed Quintana with schizophrenia and another judge ruled Quintana was incompetent to stand trial. Quintana was sent to a behavioral hospital in Las Vegas, New Mexico for 12 years.

The Santa Fe New Mexican reported earlier this year the hospital said the state was violating Quintana’s civil rights – as a mentally ill patient – to have him committed indefinitely since he’s been declared not guilty – even if it’s by reason of insanity.