An Arizona man who reportedly caused a fatal 2024 crash in Park County won’t be prosecuted for the alleged crime, as a state psychologist found he lacks the mental capacity to stand trial.

There was no dispute that 47-year-old Craig Spandl is incompetent — and that state law effectively required his release — but Park County Circuit Court Judge Joey Darrah still expressed dissatisfaction as he dismissed Spandl’s felony case last month. 

“I don’t relish this proceeding,” Darrah said at a June 29 hearing, “because I think it leaves a lot of holes, and leaves the victims without any kind of solace here when someone allegedly passed away [in a homicide].

“I know there’s a presumption of innocence,” the judge added, “but really justice is not being administered today, in my mind, because the statutes are not very well written.”

The crash

Charging documents say that, early on Aug. 17, 2024, Spandl had been traveling south on Wyo. Highway 120. Spandl was north of Cody when his Dodge Ram 2500 crossed the centerline and crashed into a northbound Mazda CX-5.

The driver of the oncoming SUV, 77-year-old Craig Johnson of Payson, Arizona, died at the scene.

Johnson was a U.S. Army veteran who served in the Vietnam War. He left behind his wife of 56 years, two children, two grandchildren and many other children who saw him as a grandfather figure, according to information Johnson’s daughter-in-law shared online at the time of his death.

Johnson “lived a life filled with love, adventure, and service,” she wrote.

As for Spandl, his injuries required a helicopter flight from the scene to a Billings hospital.

The charges

The Wyoming Highway Patrol believes the crash stemmed from Spandl driving drunk. A blood test administered at the hospital a couple hours later put his blood alcohol concentration (BAC) at 0.125% — above the 0.08% limit.

“... it is likely Spandl’s BAC was even higher at the time of the crash,” Trooper Kraig McInally wrote in an affidavit.

In January, Park County prosecutors charged Spandl with two felony counts of aggravated homicide by vehicle and another of aggravated assault and battery; he was arrested in Lake Havasu, Arizona, in February. However, the case was put on hold in late March, after Spandl’s court-appointed defense attorney, Travis Smith, raised concerns about his mental condition.

Incompetent

Dr. Katherine Mahaffey of the Wyoming State Hospital evaluated Spandl and concluded that the defendant lacked the mental capacity to understand or participate in any court proceedings, according to statements made in court; Mahaffey also said there was no substantial chance of Spandl being restored to competency.

While some conditions can be addressed with medications, “it’s pretty clear to me that the conclusion of the people at the State Hospital is that’s not the case with Mr. Spandl,” Smith said at the June 29 hearing.

Without offering any details, Smith indicated that Spandl has continuing medical issues stemming from the crash. Prior to his arrest, he’d been receiving treatment “to kind of get him to be able to function day to day,” Smith said.

Deputy Park County Attorney Larry Eichele indicated that he expected the case to be dismissed, though, “I can say I don’t really like it.”

No other options

Eichele suggested another evaluation be ordered to consider whether Spandl was not guilty by reason of mental illness, and asked that some safeguards be put in place in the meantime.

“I’m not exactly sure what they [the safeguards] would be,” Eichele said, “but … I don’t want him to just be released scot-free.”

Smith also indicated that he didn’t want Spandl to simply be let out of jail.

“I don’t believe he should be released just to the street until we have a plan to get him, I think, ultimately back to Arizona,” he said.

However, Smith also said that the criminal case could not continue.

“... the experts have concluded that my client [Spandl] does not have the capacity to proceed to go forward, even for any hearings,” Smith said.

Judge Darrah agreed, saying he had no authority to keep the case going with Spandl mentally unfit to proceed.

Time to revisit the law?

In the absence of a so-called Title 25 proceeding — in which authorities contend a person poses a threat to themselves or others as a result of mental illness and seeks to have them committed — Darrah said the law required Spandl’s unconditional release.

He ordered the Park County Detention Center to release Spandl on June 30 and dismissed the case without prejudice on July 2.

“I have a real problem with this,” Darrah said at the June 29 hearing, “and I think the Legislature needs to work on these statutes to provide us all guidance and protect not only the rights of the individual defendant, but the rights of the public, and in particular, the rights of the victim’s family.”

He added that, “we have an allegation of homicide in this case, and it leaves that issue undone because of the way the statutes are written.”

Darrah said he hoped the case would serve as “a springboard for the Legislature to really take a look and do some wholesale modifications of these statutes that deal with competency …” 

Spandl served nearly five months in custody — roughly 145 days — before being released.