After a series of high-profile crimes throughout the state last spring and summer exposed gaps in Colorado’s legal system for individuals declared incompetent to stand trial, lawmakers and an advocacy organization are pushing for reforms in 2026.
Extensive media coverage of cases such as Solomon Galligan’s — a convicted sex offender arrested last year for attempting to kidnap children at an Aurora playground — left many Coloradans alarmed about gaps in the state’s handling of defendants with serious mental health issues.
Those concerns were amplified by the case of Ephraim Debisa, who was charged with attacking a group of people in downtown Greeley in May and, like Galligan, was found incompetent to stand trial and unlikely to be restored, raising questions about the lack of appropriate placement options for such individuals…