Prosecutors challenge incompetency finding of south Minneapolis man accused of shooting neighbor

The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office will challenge a psychiatric evaluation that found John Sawchak, the south Minneapolis man accused of shooting his neighbor in the neck in broad daylight following months of escalating harassment, incompetent to stand trial.

At a hearing Tuesday to discuss the findings, Assistant Hennepin County Attorney Paige Starkey said the report, done by a psychiatric evaluator with the county, paints a “highly complicated diagnostic picture” of Sawchak’s mental health.

Because the allegations against Sawchak are serious, involve grave injury and present a significant risk to public safety, Starkey requested a hearing to contest the evaluation. She also said the Attorney’s Office anticipates hiring an additional expert to review the case.

Sawchak, 54, was charged last October with second-degree attempted murder, first-degree assault, stalking and harassment stemming from the attack on 34-year-old Davis Moturi. All criminal proceedings will be put on hold, and Sawchak will remain held at the Hennepin County jail in lieu of $1 million bail.

Moturi was shot while pruning a tree near the property line he shares with Sawchak. The bullet fractured his spine and broke two ribs. Moturi had tried in vain for months to get the Minneapolis Police Department to intervene over Sawchak’s behavior.

Because the competency evaluation is being contested, Judge William Koch did not enter any finding in the case. He did grant a request that the initial competency evaluation be released to all parties.

Lizzy Karp and Briana Perry, attorneys with the Hennepin County Public Defender’s office who are representing Sawchak, accepted the evaluation of incompetency. Attorneys for the City of Minneapolis, who are handling misdemeanor and gross misdemeanor charges against Sawchak, deferred to the county.

A future court date is yet to be determined.

Being found mentally incompetent isn’t a static legal determination. Under a doctor’s supervision and with proper medication a person who was previously found incompetent can later be found competent to stand trial. If a defendant is found competent to stand trial, that doesn’t mean they can’t bring forward a defense that they were mentally ill at the time they committed a crime.

An example in Hennepin County of how this can play out is the case of Taylor Justin Schulz, who is accused of murdering Robert Skafte in a Loring Park grocery store in December 2023 in Minneapolis. Schulz was found incompetent to stand trial last January. After a second evaluation, he was found competent last July. Last October, he was once again found incompetent. His next review hearing is set for April 15.

Incompetency creates a lengthy legal process, and it’s one Sawchak is familiar with.

Judge Jean Burdorf, who has overseen previous cases involving Sawchak, ordered the mental health evaluation, known as a rule 20.01, in late November. Sawchak has had two previous criminal cases dismissed after he was found mentally incompetent. In 2013, he pulled a fire alarm at his home. When a police officer arrived, Sawchak asked the officer if he was “going to do anything about the neighbors?” Sawchak also had a disorderly conduct charge dismissed over mental incompetency. That case from 2016 allegedly involved Sawchak pulling a knife on his neighbor who was letting his dog out.

That same year, Sawchak was civilly committed after pleading guilty to obstructing the legal process when he slashed the tires of an off-duty Minneapolis police officer. He had initially been charged with second-degree assault with a deadly weapon in that case.

The “order for commitment as a person who is mentally ill” was signed by Judge Elizabeth Cutter. It noted that Sawchak “is ill with paranoid personality disorder, unspecified bi-polar disorder vs. schizophrenia spectrum disorder vs. delusional disorder which is a substantial psychiatric disorder of his thought and mood, grossly impairing his judgement, behavior, capacity to recognize reality, and ability to reason to understand.”

Because of his mental illness, Sawchak “engages in grossly disturbed behavior or experiences faulty perceptions,” the order said.

The shooting of Moturi marked the most violent episode over a 15-year span of Sawchak’s alleged erratic and threatening behavior toward residents in his quiet Lyndale neighborhood. Public records indicate he has owned the home at 3527 Grand Av. S. since 1992.

Since 2007, Sawchak has been a party to 10 court petitions seeking an order for protection based on allegations of harassment, stalking, window-peeping and various forms of assault. The previous claims prompted at least five criminal complaints, starting in 2016, outlining increasingly aggressive behavior. His only conviction is for slashing the police officer’s tires.

The Moturi family had repeatedly asked to have Sawchak arrested over his actions. After Moturi was shot, it took police five days to arrest Sawchak — ending with a late-night SWAT standoff where MPD officers shattered his windows and used heavy machinery to tear holes into the home’s upper floor. The fallout from that situation, including vocal criticism of the police response from political leaders in Minneapolis, allegedly led MPD Chief Brian O’Hara to contemplate resigning.

If Sawchak is ultimately found incompetent and dangerous, he will be sent to the Minnesota Security Hospital in St. Peter.

Liz Sawyer and Paul Walsh contributed to this story.