Boston woman accused of stabbing EMT won't get early mental health evaluation, judge rules

By Flint McColgan
Boston Herald

BOSTON — Prosecutors unsuccessfully pushed for a new competency evaluation Tuesday. East Boston woman was accused stab to emergency room In the back of an ambulance in 2019.

Julie Tejeda was found too incompetent to stand trial at her last hearing annual mental qualification assessment It was held in May, according to arguments at a hearing Tuesday morning in Suffolk Superior Court in Boston.

But prosecutor Jillian Bannister argued that a recent competency evaluation showed improvements in the defendant’s mental health with new medications; This suggests that Tejeda is getting closer to going to trial for his accusations.

“As your honor is well aware, adequacy is variable, and in light of these medication changes, I think a new evaluation is appropriate here,” Bannister said. He added: “I think the most recent assessment speaks for itself in how he has addressed some of the improvements he has experienced.”

Defense lawyer Eduardo Masferrer, who argued for the dismissal of the case in June, said he was “unlikely to accept treatment.”make him competent“He responded by saying there was no evidence of a significant change in Ms. Tejeda’s condition.

“Unless the doctor says so, there is no reason to think that he is better today than he was four months ago,” Masferrer said. “There is zero reason for the court to order a new evaluation for Ms. Tejeda.”

Instead, Masferrer suggested that Judge James Budreau should have requested an affidavit from a doctor stating significant changes, rather than relying on “the spiel of two unmedically trained attorneys” in the courtroom.

Judge Budreau agreed, stating: “I think an affidavit needs to be filed. Something to alert me to a significant change that will change my mind.”

Prosecutors scheduled the next evaluation for March 11, 2025, unless they provide a doctor’s statement arguing that an earlier evaluation is needed.

Case history

Tejeda faces charges of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury and two counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, according to court records. These are modified charges accusations before assault on murderTwo counts of assault and battery with a deadly weapon and assault and battery on a public employee, according to a previous Herald report.

Tejeda had long suffered from mental illness. Rachael Rollins, who was Suffolk District Attorney at the time of Tejeda’s arrest, said the defendant had been on police radar for several days before the attack.

Prosecutors say an ambulance picked Tejeda up from East Boston on July 10, 2019, and took him to Massachusetts General Hospital for a medical evaluation. At one point during the trip, Tejeda allegedly stabbed a female EMT seven times in the stomach and legs and pepper-sprayed the male EMT driving the ambulance when he stopped the vehicle to check the situation behind him.

Tejeda failed annual mental health competency assessments from the beginning committed to the cause and is now voluntarily committed to it Lemuel Shattuck Hospital According to Prosecutor Bannister, there is a reformatory in Jamaica Plain.