A man at the center of KARE 11’s investigation into gaps in Minnesota’s criminal justice and mental health systems was sentenced to 38 years in prison Friday.
Earlier this year Joseph Sandoval agreed to plead guilty to murdering two men at a St. Paul sober home on October 20, 2022 – the same day he moved in.
KARE 11’s GAP investigation exposed how Sandoval had a known history of severe mental illness, drug induced psychosis, and violence – and yet was released without adequate treatment or supervision.
The victims were 40-year-old Jason Murphy and 56-year-old Jon Wentz. Wentz was an Army veteran and grandfather of three, finally clean and ready to restart his life. Murphy, the father of a teenage daughter, was a handyman making repairs at the sober house.
Both men were murdered with a knife and hammer.
Wentz’s daughter, Angela McGowan, thinks there were actually three victims that day: Her father, Murphy, and also the severely mentally ill man accused of killing them.
“(He) didn’t get the help he needed,” she told KARE 11.
“It just doesn’t make sense,” said Jason Murphy’s mother, Marsha. “I’m not one to ask why all the time, but there’s a lot of whys you could ask with this.”
Violent History
KARE 11’s multi-part investigation “The GAP: Failure to Treat, Failure to Protect” revealed how gaps in the system allowed Sandoval back on the street, despite his history of mental illness.
In one case, Sandoval stole a taxi, led police on a wild chase and slammed into a pedestrian not once – but twice.
Video from a police helicopter following the chase shows the cab backing up, then ramming into Dylan Swisher a second time.
“You think he was trying to kill you?” KARE 11 asked.
“Yes, I don’t know how you can come to any other conclusion,” Swisher replied. “He just drives at me. I’m a dude on the ground and he drives directly for me.”
Court records show Sandoval told police he intentionally ran over the man because he believed he was “messing with his sister.” Swisher said he doesn’t even know who Sandoval’s sister is.
Months before he stole the taxi, Sandoval had broken into Bryan Plunger’s north Minneapolis home, smashing through the door and windows with his bare hands.
Sandoval was muttering incoherently and was covered in blood, and Plunger said he could tell the man was severely mentally ill. Video shows Sandoval’s blood smeared on the walls and sprayed across the floor and furniture.
“My immediate impression was ‘Whoa, this guy needs some help,’” Plunger told KARE 11.
Sandoval told police that he smoked meth before breaking into the home and was hallucinating, according to court records.
Police took Sandoval to Hennepin County Medical Center, but he wasn’t charged at that time.
Back on the streets, he was accused of attacking people with a knife and taken to the county jail, where he was accused of an unprovoked beating of another inmate.
After stealing the taxi, Sandoval was arrested and charged with the earlier North Minneapolis break-in, the inmate assault, and for running over Swisher in the stolen cab.
Incompetent to stand trial
But Sandoval was found too mentally ill to stand trial. That would pave the way for another release back to the streets.
A court-appointed examiner found that Sandoval suffered from paranoid delusional thinking and lacked the capacity to recognize reality and reason.
A judge found that because of Sandoval’s mental illness, he “engages in grossly disturbed behavior” and “poses a substantial likelihood of causing physical harm.”
He was committed to the care of the Commissioner of Department of Human Services, which sent him to the state-run Anoka Metro Regional Treatment Center.
Sandoval was provisionally discharged and eventually assigned to an outpatient program at Evergreen Recovery, where his defense attorney said he relapsed while not getting the treatment he needed.
KARE 11 has reported that Evergreen Recovery is now under state and federal investigation – after the “Recovery Inc.” investigation exposed allegations that Evergreen systematically billed Medicaid for patient services not provided as claimed. Evergreen owner David Backus has denied any deliberate wrongdoing.
After the murders, Sandoval told police he heard voices from the TV saying they were going to kill him, according to the criminal charges.
Following KARE 11’s “GAP” investigation, state lawmakers approved sweeping reforms in the way incompetency cases are handled.
Judge Joy Bartscher denied requests from families of the victims to allow cameras at the sentencing. Jason Murphy’s teenage daughter Madisyn told the court, “I haven’t been able to go a single day without tearing up because I miss him so deeply.”
Judge Bartscher sentenced Sandoval to back-to-back sentences for the murders totaling 38 years. With credit for time already served – and if he qualifies for good behavior – Sandoval could be released after roughly 24 years behind bars.
At the sentencing hearing Judge Bartscher also announced that a defense memo describing problems with Sadoval’s care had been posted by mistake on the court’s public website – and ordered that it not be reported. KARE 11 obtained the memo when it was posted and plans to appeal the judge’s order, which KARE’s attorneys believe to be a case of an unconstitutional prior restraint.