MANATEE COUNTY, Fla. — A Manatee County judge found a man indicted in the murders of his own mother and her boyfriend incompetent.
The ABC Action News I-Team has followed the case from the beginning and heard from family members, who said they warned the state attorney's office earlier this year that Thomas Matejcek, who has a history of mental illness, could kill someone if he was let out of jail. Now, coming to terms with their worst fears, they told the I-Team they're fighting for other families struggling to get help for their loved ones.
Family warned family member could kill someone months before he was indicted for murder
In December, Matejcek entered pleas of not guilty after a grand jury indicted him on two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of his mother, Patty Matejcek, and her boyfriend, Sean Harrison. Matejcek had been deemed "incompetent" months earlier on a burglary with an assault charge, also involving Patty and Sean. But he was out on conditional release from jail when he was arrested for their deaths.
In Thursday's competency hearing, the judge said Matejcek refused to cooperate with doctors and reportedly displayed behavior consistent with severe and persistent mental illness. Matejcek will be involuntarily hospitalized at the Florida State Hospital to determine if he can be restored to competency and stand trial.
After the court made its decision, family member Krista Kale was allowed to speak to the judge.
"I am the sister of Patricia Matejcek, that was murdered, and Thomas's aunt. I want to explain to you that he never should have been released the last time. That is your choice that you've made that. But we knew, as the family, that this was going to happen. We notified the courts that this would happen if he was released. And it did happen. And I lost my sister," Kale said.
The judge stopped her for a moment and said she should speak with the state attorney's office to make sure she is factually informed about what happened, and said, "I am truly sorry for your loss."
The judge allowed her to continue, and Kale said, "I truly believe that understanding what everybody has determined, Thomas to be incompetent, we know him personally. We wish we had been asked the last time."
Kale said she hopes her nephew will be competent to stand trial in the future. The judge told her there could be an evidentiary hearing as time went on but that this case was in the beginning stages.
In a recent committee meetingin Tallahassee, Erica Floyd-Thomas from the Florida Department of Children and Families Assistant Secretary for Substance Abuse and Mental Health told state senators on average, it takes 102 days to restore someone to competency. In the last year and a half, DCF reports it has decreased the number of patients waiting in local jails more than 15 days by 40%.
Democratic Senator Jason Pizzo of Miami asked Floyd-Thomas, "How many patients right now have been waiting longer than 15 days in the state of Florida? Right now?”
The answer — 408 people.
State statute says 15 days is the maximum amount of time a patient should be waiting. Currently, the average length of time is more than three times that — 56 days.
“Who has been sitting waiting the longest of the 408 people? If you don’t know, you don’t know," Pizzo said.
Floyd-Thomas responded that she did not know the answer.
“Is it possible someone’s been sitting there for 400 days?” Pizzo asked.
“Potentially," Floyd-Thomas said.
