Man Charged in Stepfather’s 2021 Murder Found Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity, Committed to State Hospital for Treatment

NORFOLK, Va. — Jose Jonathan Gutierrez-Chavez, 24, was found to be not guilty by reason of insanity in the second-degree murder of his mother’s longtime boyfriend, 30-year-old Drosvin Fernando Perez Escobar, and the malicious wounding of his sister’s boyfriend in 2021. Mr. Gutierrez-Chavez, who has been in custody since his arrest, was subsequently ordered to remain in custody at a state mental health facility after a further health evaluations determined he requires in-patient treatment.

On the afternoon of Nov. 14, 2021, Mr. Escobar and Mr. Gutierrez-Chavez were conversing at the front door of Mr. Escobar’s apartment on Strand Street. Mr. Gutierrez-Chavez’s sister’s boyfriend was standing behind Mr. Escobar inside the residence during the conversation, and Mr. Gutierrez-Chavez was standing just outside of the front door. Mr. Gutierrez-Chavez had recently been put out of the residence due to what his family members described as erratic behaviors. Although the conversation was calm and benign, Mr. Gutierrez-Chavez suddenly and without provocation pulled out a gray revolver and shot into the residence at both men, hitting Mr. Escobar multiple times in his torso and hitting his sister’s boyfriend in the heel of his right foot. Mr. Gutierrez-Chavez immediately ran away, his sister’s boyfriend was transported to the hospital for his non-life-threatening wound, and Mr. Escobar was pronounced dead by arriving medics.

Police located and arrested Mr. Gutierrez-Chavez — still in possession of the revolver — the following morning, and Mr. Gutierrez-Chavez admitted to committing the shooting when police brought him before a Norfolk magistrate. Mr. Gutierrez-Chavez was charged with second-degree murder, malicious wounding, and two counts of using a firearm in the commission of those felonies.

While Mr. Gutierrez-Chavez’s case was pending trial, his defense counsel requested pursuant to Virginia law that a mental health doctor evaluate Mr. Gutierrez-Chavez to determine whether he was legally insane at the time he committed the shooting. The court ordered that evaluation, and the doctor determined that Mr. Gutierrez-Chavez was in fact legally insane at the time of his offense.

In Virginia, a defendant can be considered legally insane if — at time of their crime and because of “mental disease or defect” — they could not understand the nature or consequences of their actions, they were unable to distinguish right from wrong, or they were unable to resist an impulse to commit the actions. Both psychotic disorders and intellectual disabilities qualify as a mental disease or defect.

After receiving notice from the defense of the results of Mr. Gutierrez-Chavez’s first evaluation, the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office requested pursuant to Virginia law that the court appoint a second doctor to perform a new evaluation. That doctor also determined that Mr. Gutierrez-Chavez was legally insane at the time of his offense.

Based on both doctors’ reports, Mr. Gutierrez-Chavez entered a plea on July 7 of not guilty by reason of insanity to his four charges. Judge Everett A. Martin Jr. accepted Mr. Gutierrez-Chavez’s pleas, found him not guilty by reason of insanity, and ordered Mr. Gutierrez-Chavez to the custody of the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services for further mental health evaluations.

On Sept. 26, after receiving a report from the Department addressing the extent to which Mr. Gutierrez-Chavez is mentally ill, the likelihood that he will present a risk of harm to himself or others in the foreseeable future, and whether he requires inpatient treatment at a state mental health hospital, Judge Martin ordered Mr. Gutierrez-Chavez to remain in the custody of the Department for inpatient treatment for the next year.

“For centuries we have acknowledged that people who kill when so mentally ill that they do not know right from wrong are legally not guilty,” said Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi. “These people belong in locked mental hospitals until doctors and judges determine they are well enough to be in the world, if they ever are. I extend my condolences to the family of Mr. Perez Escobar and to the surviving victim, neither of which asked for this suffering. In the looming shadow of a government shutdown, we must call on the federal government to back away from its draconian cuts to health care and instead to increase investments in the services that will prevent such tragic incidents.” 

Senior Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Phil Y. Bailey is prosecuting Mr. Gutierrez-Chavez’s case, and former Norfolk Police Detective Matthew J. Walsh — now of the Chesapeake Police Department — led the investigation.

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