Suspect in killing to be committed to mental institution

CLOVIS — Attorneys agreed Tuesday morning to commit the suspect in last year’s killing at a Texico dairy to the state’s mental institution in Las Vegas, finding he is not competent to stand trial.

Juan Flores Espana, 33, was charged June 14, 2018 with an open count of murder for the shooting death of co-worker Mairon Franco Rodriguez, 23, of Texico, that afternoon at the Route 77 Dairy.

Flores Espana has been in custody since the incident and spent the past nine months undergoing a competency evaluation at the facility in Las Vegas, District Attorney Andrea Reeb told The News.

In a status conference of less than 15 minutes on Tuesday morning in the court of Judge Drew Tatum, attorneys “stipulated that he wasn’t competent, and is dangerous, and agreed to commit him to (the facility in) Las Vegas for 15 years,” Reeb said.

That term is equivalent to the maximum sentence for a conviction of second-degree murder, and Flores Espana will be re-evaluated every two years to see if his competency status has changed. Prosecutors are “cautiously optimistic,” said Reeb, who placed the odds of competency improving at around 50-50.

“They had an issue with him being able to assist his attorney with the way he was thinking things happened,” Reeb said of the competency issue. Flores Espana’s appearance Tuesday was waived and he will get credit for the year in custody he has already served.

The agreement Tuesday with Flores Espana’s attorney, Gary Mitchell, doesn’t “waive any ability” for the state to one day potentially go forward with murder charges.

Rodriguez’s family were present in the hearing, understood the agreement with assistance from a Spanish translator and “seemed content,” Reeb told The News.