Neighborhood terror suspect's attorney wants him tried in mental health court

SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — The public defender representing a man who has been terrorizing a Salt Lake City neighborhood for years submitted a mental health court referral to the court without the knowledge of the Salt Lake County Deputy District Attorney prosecuting Maurice Raffoul, 43. On March 26, Brock Van De Kamp requested eight of Raffoul’s cases be screened for mental health court and he electronically signed the mental health court referral document for her which says she agreed to screen Raffoul’s cases for Mental Health Court also known as MHC.

2News Investigates discovered this and began asking probing questions as to how this was possible. Turns out there is a flaw in the actual form and perhaps the process and all someone has to do is enter a name and it electronically signs the document. However, Melanie Serassio, the prosecutor on the case through a statement from District Attorney Sim Gill made it clear that they did not know about this from the onset and did not agree.

Raffoul has been the focus of multiple 2News Investigations spanning almost a year from the time we began investigating. He even dropped the DA’s name in one of his threatening rants to his victims, who have stalking injunctions in effect against him.

"You should have filed when I first started you b**ch. Know your law and get on your knees at Sim Gill's office,” Raffoul screamed from his parent’s driveway on Chadwick Street in the Sugar House area where he lives with them.

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Defense attorneys can submit mental health court referrals to try to get their client’s cases screened for mental health court even if the DA’s Office has not yet approved it. Mental Health Court is a specialty court designed to reduce the likelihood of reoffending and increase an offender’s chances of successful recovery and completion of the program with treatment and support.

One must be legally eligible and clinically eligible for specialty court. According to the Salt Lake County Criminal Justice Services website about specialty courts, where mental health court is listed, “The CJS team works collaboratively with the Judge, Prosecutor, Legal Defender, and the UPD Detective to assist high-risk to complete the program and receive a dismissal or a reduction of charges,” the website said.

The Mental Health Court is designed for defendants with serious mental health conditions who often commit crimes because they are not being treated or have stopped treatment. Some of the required serious disorders include the diagnosis of schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, and bipolar disorder, among others.

The DA’s office has the ultimate say in this matter, and normally defense attorneys requesting this speak to the prosecutor so that the prosecutor can run it by victims to see whether they approve and also discuss whether it’s appropriate. However, Van De Kamp jumped a step in the process and apparently didn’t run it by Serassio. In this case the victims Sean and Cheryl Hannon do not agree with Raffoul being tried in mental health court.

Sean said, “It's disappointing to hear that the defense attorney has tried to sidestep the rules and get Raffoul into some type of mental health court. I don't ever want to see him to get out, he is a menace to society, he is dangerous.”

MORE: Residents accuse Salt Lake County DA's Office of delayed action against terrorizing neighbor

Cheryl said that she and her husband are tired of being victimized by Raffoul. She further said, “We are not interested at all in mental health court, and we just feel like this is an easier solution to a larger problem that the DA has ignored.”

During a recent court appearance Serassio made it clear that the State did not agree to a mental health court screening. She said, “That’s an additional hoop for him to jump through it’s not one that has the State’s endorsement at this time, it does not have victim endorsement.”

Additionally, she told Judge William Kendall, “There’s no guarantees ever that the cases will go through mental health court.”

She went on to say that this case will go to the “top of the chain of command” before it’s approved suggesting DA Gill would have to be personally involved and review it.

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• 2News investigation prompts deputy DA to argue neighborhood terror suspect is flight risk

We also found that Van De Kamp electronically signed off on it on the court docket and by virtue of doing so, apparently resulted in the signature for Serassio.

We had questions as to how this happened.

We received an initial email response on April 4, from Keith Chalmers, Communications Manager for the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office when we were trying to get to the bottom of it that reads:

“In his escalation of violence, we requested the judge set and keep the bail for Mr. Raffoul at no bail and that he not be released from the Salt Lake County Jail. The defendant has remained at the jail since his arrest in November 2023."

"The prosecution did not refer Mr. Raffoul to mental health court, his defense attorney submitted the mental health court screening document without the knowledge of the prosecuting attorney in his cases. Our prosecutor did not sign the mental health court screening document that was submitted to the court. We continue to prosecute Mr. Raffoul on all his cases.”

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On Tuesday we asked for clarification after speaking with Van De Kamp and asking if he signed off on this. He said it was a complicated issue and a complicated question and directed us to ask the DA’s office. We asked him for a written statement and sent him an email, but we have not yet heard back from him.

We circled back with Chalmers asking how Van De Kamp was able to accomplish this signature. Gill issued a second statement via email that says:

“The defense attorney filled out and submitted the Mental Health Screening form on his own, without the prosecutor’s knowledge. It appears someone just needs to type in a name on the form for it to be considered electronically signed. Like any other application for mental health court, Mr. Raffoul's application will be screened. The screening process helps to determine if someone is eligible for mental health court.”

Raffoul is due back in court on April 29th. He remains in the Salt Lake County Jail without bail. We will continue to follow his case, be sure to check back here for updates.