Citing reports, a Solano County Superior Court judge on Tuesday ruled that a 24-year-old Sacramento man charged with stabbings on an Amtrak train last year in Fairfield was competent and reinstated legal proceedings against him.
Court proceedings, including arraignment, were previously suspended for Brandon Torres-Mendoza, but attorneys in the case had recently received a mental health report about him.
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Deputy Public Defender Matthew Adler represented Torres-Mendoza during the proceeding, and Deputy District Attorney Gerald J. Hall represented the DA’s Office.
Judge Janice M. Williams said Torres-Mendoza was “not eligible” for North Bay Regional Center services and also said he was competent to stand trial “within the meaning of Penal Code sections 1367 and 1368,” court records showed.
The sections indicate that a defendant in a criminal case cannot be tried or punished if they are mentally incompetent. However, once restored to competency, criminal charges can be reinstated and they can face further legal proceedings, including a jury trial.
She ordered Torres-Mendoza to return to Department 25 for a readiness conference at 8:30 a.m. April 29 and a preliminary hearing at 10 a.m. May 2 in Department 25 in the Justice Center in Fairfield.
Court and jail records indicate Torres-Mendoza in September 2024 appeared before Judge Kelley J. Trujillo in Fairfield as the complaint, filed by the Solano County District Attorney’s Office, was read.
At his scheduled jail arraignment, Torres-Mendoza, a previously convicted felon on probation, was charged with two counts of assault with a deadly weapon not a firearm, a felony, with one including a special allegation of causing great bodily injury, among other enhancements; robbery; possessing brass knuckles; and resisting arrest, all felonies with separate multiple enhancements.
The Public Defender represented Torres-Mendoza, whose mental competency at the time was in question. The attorney requested what’s called a “1368 doctor’s report” after a licensed psychologist or psychiatrist interviews a suspect.
Judge Trujillo suspended proceedings against Torres-Mendoza, then assigned the case to Judge Williams, who later reviewed the report.
Torres-Mendoza remains in Solano County Jail without bail and also on a warrant hold out of Sacramento County.
According to a Fairfield Police Department social media post, dispatchers at about 10:30 p.m. Sept. 8 received a call from an Amtrak conductor.
The train had just entered Fairfield, and a man, later identified as Torres-Mendoza, was believed to have stabbed one person on board and was possibly holding another person hostage.
The conductor requested help and told dispatchers the train would stop at the Fairfield-Vacaville Amtrak station.
While searching for the suspect, officers first found one victim, a 21-year-old man, with two stab wounds to the chest. That person was taken to a local hospital, where he reportedly was in critical condition.
“Police then encountered a man holding a knife, but quickly realized this was actually a second victim, age 24, who had taken the weapon from Torres-Mendoza and was bravely holding him at bay until officers arrived,” the post indicated.
He was arrested shortly after 11 p.m. in the 4900 block of Vanden Road, jail records indicate.
Fairfield police detectives investigated the crime, with help from Amtrak police.
Investigators confirmed that neither victim was known to Torres-Mendoza, and the motive for the stabbing was unclear at the time of his arrest.
