by P.D. Lesko

On Nov. 3, 2022 Javon Trevail Williams appeared before 15th District Court judge the Honorable Miriam A. Perry. At that hearing, it was decided that Williams, who is currently being held on a $150,000 cash bond, will be evaluated for competency. He is scheduled to appear at a competency hearing on Jan. 3, 2023. According to Michigan law, “The examination shall be performed, defense counsel consulted, and a written report submitted to the court, prosecuting attorney, and defense counsel within 60 days of the date of the order.”

If a defendant is judged incompetent to stand trial, a course of treatment may be pursued to bring the defendant to a point, mentally, where the person would be judged competent to stand trial.

Bill Amadeo partner at McManus and Amadeo. He writes, “In Michigan, there are 2 types of competency tests: The first is a motion for lack of criminal responsibility. This means that the defendant did not understand what was happening and that they should not be charged because they could not form the Mens Rea to commit the crime. The second test is a motion for one not being competent to stand trial. This means that the defendant cannot provide assistance to the defense counsel in their own defense.”

The bar by which competency is judged is low. According to research released by the Council of State Governments in 2020, “Across the U.S., states and localities are reporting significant increases in the number of people entering the process to have their competency evaluated and restored in order to stand trial.”

Dr. Katherine Warburton is the Medical Director of California State Hospitals. She says about the system of judging mental competency for legal purposes, “The most tragic aspect of this crisis is that the massive efforts to admit and restore patients are ultimately a waste of expensive clinical resources without improving the trajectory of a person’s life. After returning to jail and standing trial, they are most likely worse off: either released without resources to the same circumstances that precipitated arrest or
incarcerated.”

Williams will be evaluated at the Michigan Center for Forensic Psychiatry, in Saline, MI. According to the Center’s webpage:

The Center for Forensic Psychiatry is a 272-bed psychiatric hospital that provides diagnostic services to the criminal justice system and psychiatric treatment for criminal defendants adjudicated incompetent to stand trial or acquitted by not guilty by reason of insanity. The hospital, which was first occupied in 2005, serves all 83 Michigan counties.

The Evaluation Services division of the Center for Forensic Psychiatry (CFP) conducts court-ordered psychological evaluations for all district and circuit criminal courts throughout the State of Michigan.  Evaluation issues most often involve questions about competency to stand trial and criminal responsibility.  Less frequently, competency to waive Miranda, competency to be sentenced, and other psycholegal issues may be the focus of special diagnostic evaluations.  Approximately 3,000 defendants with charges ranging from misdemeanors to serious felonies are evaluated annually.  

On Oct. 25, Williams, 28, allegedly attacked long-time downtown restauranteur Sava Lelcaj Farah near Sava, her restaurant on State Street in Ann Arbor. According to an email sent by William Farah (Sava’s husband) to City Council members, the City Administrator and County Prosecutor Eli Savit, Sava Farah “was in her car, in the alley, when he [Javon Trevail Williams, 28] came out and tried to slash her tires. The man, then broke through the driver side window and tried stabbing her. She retreated to the passenger side and [Williams] kept coming in over the broken window. Fortunately for her, a construction worker at the building next door saw this and scared him off.”

After 30 minutes of searching, Sava Farah, armed with a baseball bat according to her husband, cornered her assailant and held him until AAPD officers arrived.

Sava Farah was not physically injured in the attack. According to Sava and her husband William Farah in emails sent to Mayor Taylor, Prosecutor Eli Savit and all the members of City Council, Javon Williams has allegedly been stalking and targeting Sava Farah for months, including texting threats to Sava.

15th District Court records show that the alleged assailant, Javon Trevail Williams, has a record of misdemeanor prosecutions going back to 2010. Records show his most recent prosecution was in Jan. 2, 2021 for larceny for less than $200, a misdemeanor. The charges were dismissed by County Prosecutor Eli Savit’s office. Three months later, in March 2021, Williams was once again in Judge Miriam A. Perry’s courtroom, this time being tried for a misdemeanor assault which occurred in Nov. 2020. Williams was found not guilty by a jury. That case was closed in April 2022.

The day after Williams allegedly tried to stab Sava Farah, he was due to appear before Judge Perry in an appearance related to another misdemeanor assault charge. That assault occurred in Aug. 2020. In July of 2022, Williams was found guilty as charged and Perry put Javon Williams on probation until Aug. 2023. Perry also sentenced him to five days of community service in lieu of jail, and court costs of $1,283.95, an amount that has yet to be paid.

In Feb. 2018, just days after he was off probation imposed in 2017, Williams was charged with aggravated assault, a misdemeanor. By April 2018, that charge had been reduced to assault and battery. Williams was assessed $777 in costs and between 2018 and 2020 paid off the amount in $20 increments.

In 2016, Williams was arrested for brandishing a firearm in public. On Jan 25, 2017, he was put on probation by Judge Karen Valvo for 12 months.

Despite repeated and years-long contact with the judges of the 15th District Court, this is the first time Williams has been ordered to undergo a competency exam.

Dr. Debra Pinals in the Medical Director of Behavioral Health and Forensic Programs at the Michigan Dept. of Health and Human Services. In her view, the criminal justice system is not the place for the mentally ill. “We have a responsibility to work across systems to make competency work for the purpose for which it was intended. Otherwise, we fail in guaranteeing the constitutional rights in our legal system and the people whose complex health needs warrant seamless continuity of care.”

While Sava Farah’s husband William, in an email, told County Prosecutor Eli Savit to “LOCK HIM [Williams] UP,” experts disagree.

Dr. Michael Champion is the Medical Director of the Adult Mental Health Division, Behavioral Health Administrator for the State of Hawaii, he says, “Where possible, focus resources on prevention, recovery, and reintegration back into the community.”

Money from Washtenaw County’s Public Safety and Mental Health Preservation Millage first became available in 2019. Despite the fact that a key part of that millage was to provide diversion services, Ann Arbor’s elected officials, instead, of using the millions from the County millage kicked back to the City on mental health programming, diverted it to fund bike lanes, housing and climate change programs. Between the year the Mental Health Millage passed and the attack on Sava Farah, Javon T. Williams had dozens of hearings before 15th District Court judges Perry, Valvo and Garwood, was put on probation three times and fined almost $2,000. He was not, however, diverted from the criminal justice system.