Judge to decide if Air Force veteran’s killer can be released from state mental hospital

EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) - The family of an Air Force veteran is waiting to see whether or not an El Paso County Judge will free their loved one's killer.

Timothy Hagins was found not guilty by reason of insanity on February 6, 2018, after multiple psychologists, Dr. B. Thomas Gray and Nicole Glover on behalf of the Colorado Mental Health Institute at Pueblo, said "paranoid delusions led to his actions, killing David Stechman and attempting to kill the McDonald family."

Hagins has now requested to be released from the Colorado Mental Health Institute after he was permanently committed there following his not-guilty verdict.

Hagins, who was not from Colorado, walked into the Falcon home of David Stechman on August 25, 2016. He proceeded to brutally kill him with various wooden utensils and an ice cream scraper. Stechman's wife found him lying on the floor of their home covered in blood.

Shortly after, Hagins traveled 12 miles north to Elbert County and tried to harm John McDonald and his family, but John was able to detain Hagins before police arrived and took him into custody.

Two years after he was committed to the Colorado Mental Hospital in Pueblo (CMHIP), on February 21, 2020, a coordinator filed a “Notice of Temporary Physical Removal for Treatment and Rehabilitation – Supervised," court documents say. The court later denied the request for temporary removal and ordered a hearing to be set.

Since then, there have been various hearings in front of El Paso County Judge Linda Margaret Billings Vela as Hagins has continued to request his release from CMHIP. Under Colorado law, people found not guilty by reason of insanity, who are then committed to a mental hospital for restoration, can petition a judge for their release at any time.

If granted by the judge, Hagins would earn "off-campus supervised release," where he would have to be under the supervision of members of CMHIP in the community. Eventually, that release would turn into "off-campus unsupervised release," which means Hagins would no longer be under the supervision of CMHIP.

Several family members have sent letters to Judge Billings Vela pleading with her to not release him. One person, Judith Westphall, expressed her frustration that Hagins is not being re-tried for Stechman's murder, instead of being released back into the community.

"Hagins in my opinion lost his privileges when he murdered my friend," Westphall wrote to the judge. "Hagins does not deserve special benefits from the judicial system, the Stechman family sure did not get any special privileges."

Janis Stechman, David's widow, wrote a letter to Judge Billings Vela which she ended with the verbiage, "Hold him accountable."

"In August, it will be seven years without my husband David G. Stechman. I miss him every day," Janis said.

During Friday's hearing a psychiatrist with CMHIP, Dr. Jennifer Bundrick, said that she did various tests on Hagins. During those, she found that Hagins has been fully restored and does not need further hospitalization.

She recommended that Hagins be on what's called "conditional release." That means if Hagins is released from CMHIP with various rules in place like requirements to take certain medicines and make all necessary meetings.

Dr. Bundrick said his risk assessment showed that Hagins had a very low risk to re-offend. She said that this assessment concluded that he is not a psychopath, and lies within the lowest percentile of people who are in his position.

She concluded that Hagins now does know the difference between right and wrong, which was an issue when he was tried for murder back in 2018. Dr. Bundrick testified that she does not believe that Hagins is a dangerous person any longer.

When Dr. Bundrick was cross-examined by the prosecution, she outlined that Hagins had multiple "psychotic breaks" in 2005 and 2013. In both instances, he had to be hospitalized and told people that he did not have a mental illness.

During that 2013 psychotic break, he attempted to light himself on fire with gasoline because he was feeling threatened at the time. The prosecutor then outlined that Hagins suffered another break in 2016 when he killed Stechman.

Dr. Bundrick testified that Hagins has a "life-long mental illness," that can only be helped with medication. She added that it only helps with symptoms and is not a cure for his disorder.

The psychiatrist said that if Hagins were to go off of his medication, he would be highly likely to be a danger to himself or others once again. This opinion garnered noticeable nods from family members of the victim inside the courtroom Friday.

At Friday's hearing, Judge Billings Vela announced she'll make a decision next week in writing.

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