After several hours of testimony spanning multiple hearings — focused mostly on a traumatic brain injury from his childhood — an El Paso County judge ruled the man accused of dragging a woman 300 feet during a fatal hit and run in November is incompetent to stand trial and cannot be restored to competency. The case was dismissed.

Joel Lang, 41, is facing homicide charges related to the death of Kristy Kerst, 47, on Nov. 4. According to court records, Lang struck Kerst’s vehicle while leaving the McDonald’s at 765 West Baptist Road in Monument. When Kerst and a family member hopped out of the car to confront Lang, he allegedly fled the scene, running over Kerst and dragging her underneath his vehicle in the process. Lang turned himself in to law enforcement just days after the alleged crime.

During a June 20 hearing, mental health evaluator and forensic psychologist Loandra Torres took the stand on behalf of the prosecution. She continued her testimony from the May competency hearing, which focused on Lang’s medical history.

It was revealed in court that Lang suffered a significant brain injury when he was 5 years old, which impacted his cognitive function. Torres testified Lang initially arrived at the hospital in an almost coma-like state, and it took months of recovery before he could speak single syllables. A small scar is still visible on the back of his head.

Torres explained the multiple cognitive tests she performed on Lang in April and the results of each. Through the tests, Torres concluded Lang was not competent, but he could be restored. However, Torres added it was unlikely his “cognitive function deficits” would drastically improve due to how much time has passed since his traumatic brain injury.

Torres testified that Lang would likely benefit from education related to court and legal proceedings. According to her report, Lang understood some things about the judicial system, but had many misconceptions.

“I cannot fully say he is restorable,” Torres said. “I think there is a chance, but my opinion is guarded.”

One of Torres’ concerns revolves around the unknowns surrounding how Lang would respond to structured education. After his brain injury, his family opted not to place him into special education programs, instead home-schooling him.

Lang’s defense counsel called Diane Guerra back to the stand for cross-examination. Guerra agreed with Torres on many points, especially her concern over Lang’s reaction to structured education and anticipation Lang’s cognitive function will not improve significantly.

While Guerra acknowledges it may be difficult to restore Lang to competency, it is not impossible.

“He’s not a vegetable,” Guerra said. “He can learn.”

After an extended break, Lang’s defense called Rachel Redlin, Lang’s older sister, to the stand to speak about his childhood and education. Redlin was in the car with Lang when he was injured, and shared some details of the incident and its aftermath. Redlin described Lang before his injury as very detailed and serious for a 5-year-old. After the traumatic brain injury, Redlin said Lang was never the same.

“It was more like talking to a toddler once he was able to speak again,” Redlin said.

Adding on, Redlin testified that introducing Lang to the home-schooling program his parents used was “slow going.” At one point, Redlin’s parents tried to go through an agency to teach Lang life skills. Redlin was heavily questioned by the prosecution and was visibly shaken after her testimony. Lang’s defense counsel objected to the prosecution’s line of questioning multiple times.

For the last witness of the day, the defense called Meredith Veltri, who conducted a competency evaluation on Lang in early February. The evaluation was done virtually, as Veltri is based out of Ohio.

Veltri testified she has evaluated people with traumatic brain injuries before, and Lang’s cognitive deficits did not come as a surprise given the nature of the 1988 car crash.

On Friday, Judge Samuel Evig ruled that Lang is incompetent to proceed to trial, and that he is not restorable. According to Colorado law, under these circumstances, a case must be dismissed.

“In this case, the difference between ‘possible’ and ‘substantially likely’ (to be restored) is as wide as a gulf … Because of that, as required by these findings and the statute, the court dismisses these charges,” Evig said.

Members of Kerst’s family donned blue shirts calling for justice and were frequently seen wiping tears away during the hearings. Family members of Lang, including the sister who testified, sat opposite to the victim’s family, appearing emotional at times, as well.

When the ruling was announced, Kerst’s family erupted in emotion. Several shared victim impact statements about what a dismissal means for their family and questioned how Lang was allowed to have a drivers license with such competency issues.

“I haven’t seen any regret or remorse from Mr. Lang. I’ve heard expert testimony that if he claims incompetency, this problem goes away. This isn’t a problem to go away, Joel is the problem,” one family member said.

4th Judicial District Attorney Michael Alley commented on the case through a press release, following the ruling, blaming the Colorado legislature and governor for the outcome.

“At issue today is a dangerously tangled statutory web that requires courts to dismiss cases after finding a defendant to be incompetent,” Allen said, claiming that the competency statute has been amended 11 times since 2019 by the legislature.

Lang’s next appearance in front of an El Paso County judge is a review hearing scheduled for Aug. 1, to arrange for him to be transitioned from jail custody into a mental health setting.