An El Paso County judge found the man accused of stabbing and killing 65-year-old Frank Mason earlier this year incompetent to proceed in his case in what was described by the judge as a “very close call.”

Alexander Brown, 32, was arrested in April after allegedly fatally stabbing Mason in an incident on Colorado Springs’ east side. According to previous Gazette reporting, Brown was known to law enforcement databases as “EDP,” a designation meaning possible mental illness with symptoms, including paranoia and delusions. The Police Department’s Community Response Team also had multiple previous contacts with Brown.

Notes from those contacts mentioned in Brown’s arrest affidavit said he had previously “made statements about experiencing homicidal ideation” and that he had thoughts about hurting his neighbors, co-workers and strangers.

Brown appeared in court on Wednesday afternoon for a competency hearing. Judge Chad Miller was tasked with determining competency because of conflicting competency reports filed to the court. 

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Both evaluators testified on Wednesday and had seemingly very similar findings regarding Brown, both claiming  Brown had a strong factual understanding of court procedure and process. 

The difference in the evaluations came with the finding from Dr. Joshua Hatfield, hired by the defense to conduct the second evaluation, who determined that Brown was incompetent to proceed because of “delusions” in the facts of his case.

Hatfield explained that Brown adamantly believed he had been abducted, beaten, drugged, and assaulted by “racist White people and the police” numerous times, and that he believed Mason and his family were “in cahoots” with the police to conduct the abuse. Hatfield and Brown’s attorneys described these claims as delusional with no evidence to support them. 

Brown had stated some of the accusations to the first evaluator, but the major difference between the two evaluations was that Brown did not discuss how he felt his claims against the police were the reason for his arrest and the reason he was being prosecuted for killing Mason. In the first competency evaluation, evaluator Colton McNutt testified that Brown refused to discuss anything involving his current criminal case. 

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Both evaluators determined that Brown suffered from some form of a psychosis disorder, but McNutt testified that his evaluation determined that the psychosis diagnosis did not rise to the level of incompetence.

However, during cross-examination, McNutt testified that he couldn’t say for sure if any of the new information discussed in Hatfield’s testimony would lead to a new finding on competence and that he would need to conduct an additional evaluation to be sure.  

After nearly two hours of testimony, Miller stated the decision he had to make on competency was more difficult than he would have liked. 

“Delusions alone do not make someone incompetent to proceed,” Miller said. “The concern comes when the delusions are tied to the facts of the case.” 

Ultimately, Miller found Brown incompetent to proceed in what he described as a “51-49 decision.” Miller said that what swayed him to find Brown incompetent was that McNutt testified he was unsure if the new information provided by the second evaluation would change his evaluation. 

Due to the finding of incompetency, Brown’s case will now be on hold until it’s determined he has been restored to competency. Brown will be sent to the Colorado Mental Health Institute in Pueblo to begin mental health restoration treatment. 

Attorneys in the case will return to court on Feb. 12 for a review hearing to discuss Brown’s status. 

Brown appeared to court in custody of the El Paso County jail on a $1 million bond. He faces one charge of first-degree murder.

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