What happens when someone is arrested and charged with a crime?
When someone is arrested and charged with a crime, the police follow a protocol that includes reading the Miranda rights.
A Paterson man accused of attempted murder following a June car crash was in the midst of a psychotic episode and wanted to die in a hail of police bullets, a Passaic County prosecutor said.
D’Airon James was “trying to give someone a ride” when he crashed his car into another vehicle in Wayne on June 14, Assistant District Attorney Matthew Benzoni added at a court hearing last week. The crash injured the other driver, a 44-year-old Pompton Lakes man, although officials were unsure how badly he was injured at the July 31 hearing.
James’ public defender argued that the 31-year-old had no intention of hurting anyone but himself during the incident at Hamburg Turnpike and Black Oak Ridge Road. But Judge Joy-Michele Johnson sided with the prosecution and ruled that James should remain in custody pending trial.
James is facing charges including attempted first-degree murder, fourth-degree aggravated assault with a weapon, fourth-degree assault with an automobile, third-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, third-degree criminal damage to property, and third-degree endangering another person.
He was arrested at the scene shortly after the crash at 2 a.m. Benzoni said the other driver’s legs were trapped in the vehicle, but it was not clear how severe the victim’s injuries were, something Johnson noted in her ruling.
D’Airon James wanted “someone to shoot me”
Benzoni said James made statements at the scene about how he wanted to die. He allegedly said, “I wanted someone to shoot me in the head,” and admitted to committing “suicide by cop” and “attempted homicide.” At the time of his arrest, James was wearing a medical bracelet on his left wrist indicating he had been released from a mental health facility the day before, Benzoni said.
Since that night, James has been held at the Ann Klein Forensic Center in Trenton under the care of a psychiatric team, according to his attorney, Ann Heaps, who said her client is taking medication for his mental health issues. She argued for James’ release and said he will continue to attend daily sessions Monday through Friday to ensure he takes his medication.
James suffers from schizoaffective bipolar disorder, she said. The illness is a mixture of schizophrenia and symptoms of a mood disorder, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Heaps said James had “absolutely no intention of hurting anyone but himself that day.” However, she noted that he was convicted of assault and aggravated battery on a police officer in 2021, which she said was related to his mental health issues. James was sentenced to one year of probation for the aggravated assault charge, she said.
Benzoni disputed Heaps’ assessment that James did not mean to hurt anyone.
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“Not only did he try to kill himself that night by having a police officer shoot him, as he himself admitted, but he also tried to take someone else with him,” the prosecutor said.
Wayne accident was intentional, says prosecutor
James’ ultimate goal was to die at the hands of police, but he was “perceptive enough to recognize that the deadly use of force by a police officer is justified when protecting the life of another,” Benzoni said.
If James were released, Heaps said, he could be monitored and would not pose a danger to the victim or the community. At the time of the accident, she argued, James was living in his car. Heaps did not know if he had friends or relatives he could stay with, but she said the public defender’s office has resources to help find housing for people.
Benzoni said that while he knows James is receiving treatment and medical care, there is still a “significant risk” if he does not comply with his “medical treatment.”
Judge Johnson said she was concerned about James’ mental health. Although no one died in the accident, she said the “burden of proof” against James was strong. She acknowledged that he was receiving treatment for his mental health disorder, but noted that this was due to a “current and ongoing civil commitment.”
She said that while the risk to the community was low, there was some chance that James could hinder or attempt to hinder the criminal process. She ordered that he remain in custody, either at the Ann Klein Forensic Center or the Bergen County Jail in Hackensack.
