Tyron Calhoun is a 23-year-old Lewiston man who has been repeatedly charged with drug crimes in which there was overwhelming evidence for prosecution. Yet, in each case the charges were dismissed because Calhoun does not have the mental capacity to stand trial. Meaning, his IQ is at a level where he cannot understand the consequences, nor is he able to understand enough about the charges to participate in his own defense.

His mental capacity is that of an 8-year-old, according to Andrew Matulis, an assistant district attorney.

He’s an 8-year-old-minded adult who is apparently functional enough to arrange housing, food and other necessities of life without need of a guardian, and who hangs with crooks and commits crimes. But not functional enough to be held responsible for illegal acts.

If an actual 8-year-old were to behave as Calhoun has, the justice system has a mechanism to respond. A child would move through the juvenile justice system, receive counseling and monitoring, with the end goal being the shaping of a responsible adult.

Calhoun doesn’t have that, and likely won’t ever be that.

What he does have is an amorphous “gray area” to do as he wishes. Worse, to do as others wish.

Calhoun, like others with low mental capacity, can be easily manipulated into doing the bidding of others. He — and others like him — can become puppets who commit arson, domestic violence and drug trafficking under the influence (and on behalf) of others. These crimes are all a direct threat to public safety, and yet there is not a thing that police, prosecutors or the public can do to stop them from ending up back on the streets to commit more crimes.

These same low IQ defendants can be prosecuted for lesser crimes and are sometimes found guilty of misdemeanors. But, a more serious charge and a higher risk of jail time force a different level of judicial scrutiny to determine a person’s ability to understand the often complicated and confusing criminal justice process.

From a victim’s viewpoint, this is an unacceptable situation. An adult defendant who can commit a deliberate crime but who then cannot be held responsible for it offers no justice to victims left in the wake.

Consider the 2013 case of then 23-year-old Bryan Wood. He was charged with three counts of arson in connection with a rash of fires in downtown Lewiston but was never prosecuted for those crimes. There were dozens of victims who fled from their homes in the middle of the night, and who were then forced to relocate in a state of fear.

Wood’s co-defendant in that case, Brian Morin, was sentenced to serve 25 years in prison, with all but 5 suspended.

This was one case with two defendants. Morin went to jail; Wood was released to the street.

This is especially grating given that Wood was previously charged with, and previously not held accountable for, another arson when he was 18 years old. And, after his release in the more recent case, Wood told a girlfriend he could “pretty much get away with any crime” he pleased. So, the man has enough mental capacity to know and process that fact, but not enough to pay for his actions.

Wood’s attorney believes his client may have been heavily influenced to go along with the arson because he wanted to fit in, that Wood was more scapegoat than criminal.

Wood, like others with similar mental capacity, can be “exploited by people who are smarter than they are because they want to be part of a group, they want people to like them just like we all do. But their ability to identify people that don’t have their best interests in mind is not very good sometimes and that gets them into trouble,” a state forensic psychologist told the Sun Journal.

Understood.

So, if we know that and don’t do something to help counsel or educate those who are so easily influenced, we also do so knowing there is great potential for future crimes. But, because these are adults we’re talking about, they have constitutional freedoms to do as they wish. Regardless of who they may eventually hurt.

It’s an uneasy, unfair balance.

Wood and Calhoun are not the only defendants who fall into this classification of “unfit to prosecute.” There are others, and there is general agreement in the courts, among attorneys and lawmakers, and at the Department of Health and Human Services that this defendant group could benefit from support services to help them identify and resist the criminal element. And, yet, no one is working on a fix.

There’s something wrong with a system that recognizes smarter, slicker crooks play puppet masters to low IQ adults on a stage where no one is held responsible.

Behind the scenes, victims are being assaulted, homes are burned, drugs are sold and property is damaged. When someone dies, what are we to tell the surviving family? That we knew and did nothing?

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