File photo.

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PREVIOUSLY

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A judge will decide next week whether Daryl Ray Jones, a man accused of placing a deluge of threatening phone calls across Humboldt County, can receive mental health treatment in lieu of facing criminal charges.

The calls in early 2025 caused lockdowns in several schools, businesses and daycares.

During a mental health diversion hearing Monday, the court heard from victims of the phone threats and a psychologist that analyzed Jones. The man would follow a treatment plan while criminal proceedings were suspended, if the diversion is granted.

The prosecution was in staunch opposition to diversion, arguing the risk to the community was simply too high if Jones was released, particularly as the calls to schools included explicit threats to kill and rape children.

“The potential for harm is so great,” said Deputy District Attorney Roger Rees.

The District Attorney’s Office was especially opposed to Jones being treated in the same community the threats were called into. Defense attorney Meagan O’Connell, from the county’s Conflict Counsel Office, noted they are working to place Jones elsewhere if the diversion is approved.

Rees pointed out Jones would be in close proximity to the schools and workplaces he allegedly called in threats to kill people. He painted a hypothetical of Jones relapsing on stimulants, obtaining a weapon and taking the bus to one of the schools.

“Even a small risk is too much,” he said.

But psychologist Dr. Benedetto Brunetto testified over Zoom that Jones had no intention to carry out the threats, and he met other qualifications for a diversion.

Brunetto said Jones has schizoaffective disorder, depressive type. He said Jones had a “lot of complex psychology” with a history of delusion and psychosis. He found Jones had inaccurate memories, like a gory suicide attempt or his friends being eaten in front of him.

He said the alleged criminal behavior was tied to Jones’ depression. He said it gave him a sense of control and the ability to displace his feelings of negative self-view onto others, anonymously. It gave him “a rush,” or a boost of adrenaline.

Brunetto emphasized he had no belief that Jones would actually carry out the threats. He described Jones as being taken aback when asked about this. Carrying out an act of violence is not part of his psychological MO, he said, as Rees pressed into the potential while questioning the psychologist. He found it more likely he would die by suicide than inflict violence on another, later describing suicidal and homicidal impulses as different.

O’Connell pointed out the man, who was living in Oklahoma at the time, took no action towards carrying out the threats. While Jones owned guns, she said this was part of his family’s culture.

“There is a significant difference between words and actions,” she said. 

O’Connell noted Jones is already responding to medication treatment in custody, and is showing “considerable improvement” according to Brunetto. A requirement of diversion is for the defendant’s symptoms to respond to treatment.

Victims of the threatening calls attended the hearing and urged for the defendant to face criminal charges.

The dozens of felony charges Jones faces include two criminal stalking charges of a victim that began in 2021.

An anonymous woman, identified as Jane Doe No. 2, read a statement describing the “living nightmare” she experienced for five years, including obsessive cyberstalking, violent threats and extensive harassment at her place of work.

She read quotes from threats that promised to kill her, her friends, her family and coworkers.

She said it’s difficult to describe how paralyzing it was that he knew where she was. She said she only felt safe after knowing Jones was arrested. While expressing hope he would get help, she said she would live in fear again if he was released.

Others submitted letters to the judge on the impact of the calls, including Michael Davies-Hughes, Humboldt County Superintendent of Schools.

Judge Kelly Neel took the matter under submission and requested transcripts from the preliminary hearing. She said she’d issue a ruling on August 21.