Woman Who Murdered 3-Year-Old Following Early Release Found Incompetent To Stand Trial

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Although former President Donald Trump has highlighted an influx of criminals pouring through the southern border from prisons and insane asylums as the driving force of the surging crime taking over America during the Biden Administration, that threat is not coming from aboard alone. The deterioration of America's criminal justice system domestically has been another key component of rampant lawlessness that has put violent crime on a fixed upward trajectory. The murder of Julian Wood in North Olmsted, Ohio is a perfect encapsulation of how the failures of the American justice system have put the interests of criminals before that of law abiding citizens.

On June 3rd, 3-year-old Julian Wood and his mother were stabbed by an assailant wielding a kitchen knife in an unprovoked attack in the parking lot outside of a Giant Eagle grocery store as the two were returning to their car from shopping. As Julian sat defenseless in the shopping cart as he was attacked, his mother thrust herself in harm's way to pull him out of the seat as she was stabbed herself. The victims were taken to St. John Medical Center where the mother was treated for non-life-threatening injuries. Tragically, her 3-year-old son died from the knife wounds inflicted upon him as he was stabbed in the face, back, and chest.

Police responding to the attack arrested 32-year-old Bionca Ellis after officers found her found her carrying the murder weapon near the scene of the crime. Ellis was indicted thereafter by a Cuyahoga County grand jury. Outrage over Wood's murder only became amplified during the hearing where Elllis entered a plea of not guilty on charges of murder, aggravated murder, attempted murder, felonious assault, endangering children, tampering with evidence, and misdemeanor theft. During the hearing, the visibly deranged Ellis stood before the court with a callous smirk shamelessly displaying her wanton abandonment for the lives of her victims. Her display of abject remorselessness culminated with a fourth-wall break in which she turned to the camera recording the proceeding, raised her eyebrows, and smiled.

Ellis' bail was set at $5 million after testimony from Julian's father Jared Wood pleaded with Judge Nancy Russo to "do everything you can to keep this monster behind bars'". Prosecutors also announced that they would be seeking the death penalty for Ellis, illustrating the heinousness of her crimes. In the aftermath of the surreal hearing, details emerged about Ellis' criminal history that highlighted how the criminal justice system failed the Wood family by enabling their son Julian's murder.

Days before the June 3rd murder of Julian Wood, Bionca Ellis was released from police custody after a warrant for her arrest had been issued for a probation violation. Ellis' probation was in relation to her being previously arrested for stealing $69 worth of merchandise from a department store. When Ellis appeared before Rocky River Municipal Court following her arrest for violating her probation, issues about the dangers she posed to society were already apparent. After being taken into custody, Ellis was referred for a mental health evaluation. However, no such evaluation occurred before she was released by Judge Brian Hagan. His decision to release Ellis would ultimately become the catalyst in a chain of events leading to the murder of Julian Wood.

Judge Hagan justified his decision to release Ellis under the pretense that the organization handling mental health evaluations for the court had limited availability which would have meant Ellis would have needed to remain in jail for a few days for what he deemed to be a petty crime. “There wasn’t any red flags shooting up that pole. There wasn’t any indications here. No sign of mental distress. No sign of previous, violent acts,” Judge Hagan said.

Despite Judge Hagan dismissing the risks Ellis posed to society given her lack of a violent criminal record, her deranged mental state was apparent to Rocky River Magistrate Gregory Sponseller, who issued the request for a mental evaluation during the initial hearing following her arrest that Judge Hagan ultimately dispensed of. During the hearing following the arrest in late May that preceded Wood's murder, audio captured the concern Sponseller demonstrated over Ellis' not being in touch with reality, succinctly concluding “I’m not sure she fully understands the simple requirements the court has imposed on her.” before he ordered the court to evaluate her mental health.

Following Ellis' arrested for Julian Wood's murder, Judge Hagan remained adamant that he was justified in releasing her from custody. “I’m confident in the way this court handled the matter,” the judge said. “We did it by the letter of the law. There was nothing there to send up the alarms.”

The vociferous outcry against Hagan's release of Ellis and his obstinate response defending his decision grew louder in the weeks following her murder indictment. In July, Ellis' attorneys told the new judge presiding over the case, Judge John Russo, that their client underwent a mental health evaluation earlier in the month that deemed she is not competent to stand trial. Ellis' murder trial was set to being on December 9th. “Our expert communicated with Mr. Johnson and I and believes that at this point, Miss Ellis is incompetent and not able to assist in her defense and cannot stand trial,” defense attorney Fernando Mack stated.

In response to the defense's claim, prosecutors insisted the Ellis be referred to a court appointed psychiatric clinical for a subsequent evaluation to assess her mental competency to be put on trial. Judge Russo granted the request and after the evaluation was conducted by a forensic psychiatrist, Ellis was ordered to undergo further psychiatric observation to determine her mental competency to stand trial. During an August 13th hearing following Ellis' July 16th competency hearing, Judge Russo stated “Their finding is a recommendation that you be referred, ma’am, for an up to 20-day inpatient competency assessment at Northcoast Behavioral Healthcare....Specifically, a fuller determination about her competency to stand trial may be made in a more lengthy evaluation with 24-hour observation.”

Although Judge Russo ordered a conference on October 15th for attorneys to discuss the findings of Ellis' long-term psychiatric evaluation, the court reached its conclusion on her mental state earlier on September 13th. On the eerily apropos date falling on Friday the 13th, the court decided that Ellis had been found incompetent to stand trial. That ruling means that Ellis will remain hospitalized indefinitely without being tried for the murder of Julian Wood. If her psychiatric treatment renders improvements to her mental state then Ellis could eventually stand trial for her crimes.

The court's determination that Ellis is incapable of standing trial not only delays, if not outright precludes, any justice in the case of the murder of Julian Wood, it also beggars belief about how she was put back on the streets to be able to commit the heinous crime to begin with. While Ellis' competency has come under scrutiny in the proceedings that followed her arrest, similar criticism should fall upon the broken justice system that enabled her to commit her crimes. Like Ellis', those who played a hand in this tragic tale such as the judge who released her just days before the murder remain unaccountable for their actions. That absence of accountability demonstrates the dynamic driving the lawlessness overtaking the streets of America and the futile pursuit of justice victims of surging crime face in the wake of the social decay emboldening violent criminals like Bionca Ellis.