Only days ago, The Gazette editorial board weighed in on how easy it is for dangerous criminal suspects with lengthy records in Colorado to walk free — and never come back — as they supposedly await trial or other court proceedings.

That includes when they are deemed “incompetent” to understand the charges against them — usually, due to presumed mental illness — and at times are released pending psychiatric assessment and treatment to restore their competency.

Even under those circumstances, suspects can wind up going free for good, either because they fail to follow through on outpatient psychiatric care and disappear onto the streets, or, incredibly, they have been found permanently incompetent — and by state law, the charges against them must be dropped.

And it turns out a violent criminal suspect — with a violent past — also can be found incompetent to face charges simply because he’s from another country. Yes, really.

As The Gazette reported Tuesday, Weld County Sheriff Steve Reams says a 2024 state law forced him to release a man who had been charged with attempted murder. Reams said 21-year-old Debisa Ephraim was arrested in April and charged with second-degree attempted murder after an altercation with another man. It was captured on video. The victim suffered a brain injury and spent time in the hospital and rehabilitation.

The defendant was a refugee from Tanzania and had a record of violent behavior, according to authorities. While he was in jail awaiting further proceedings, his defense lawyers asked the court to determine whether he was competent. His defense argued that because he had not received an education and was not from the United States, he did not understand how the U.S. justice system works. The court agreed.

Reams was then required to release Ephraim from custody, thanks to 2024’s House Bill 1034, signed into law by Gov. Jared Polis. It required the court to end a case if the suspect is found incompetent to proceed and unrestorable to competency.

Reams says Ephraim was released last week and is unsure of his whereabouts. Reams has contacted the victim’s family, which is worried Ephraim will reoffend.

Reams couldn’t contain his disbelief: “I just can’t wrap my mind around the outcome of this case or the prior cases,” he said. “It’s just a complete failure of the criminal justice system.”

The same law required the release of Soloman Galligan in Arapahoe County this year after what police say was an attempt last year to kidnap a young boy from the playground of an elementary school in Aurora. Galligan was found mentally incompetent — as he had been following previous alleged crimes.

“If the defendant is found by the court to be incompetent and not likely to be restored to competency during the course of the proceedings, the court is required by state law to dismiss the case,” 18th Judicial District Attorney Amy Padden said in July.

As if it needed to be said, no dangerous suspect, regardless of competency — whether for bona fide mental illness or simply foreign birth — should be allowed to roam free.

Last year’s legislation must be fixed. Republicans in Colorado’s Washington delegation even sent the governor a letter this week calling on him to convene another special legislative session to address that broken law and other gaping holes in the state’s criminal code.

This week’s contortion of justice offers what is, of course, only the latest outrage courtesy of Colorado’s offender-friendly legislature. For years, ruling Democrats at the Capitol have been on a spree of decriminalizing offenses, slashing sentences and springing suspects from jail.

Debisa Ephraim — wherever he is — has them to thank.