{"id":16959,"date":"2025-08-08T23:30:21","date_gmt":"2025-08-09T05:30:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/farmington-police-chief-calls-for-review-after-alleged-incompetent-man-brutally-stabs-woman\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T22:03:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T04:03:15","slug":"farmington-police-chief-calls-for-review-after-alleged-incompetent-man-brutally-stabs-woman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/farmington-police-chief-calls-for-review-after-alleged-incompetent-man-brutally-stabs-woman\/","title":{"rendered":"Farmington police chief calls for review after alleged \u2018incompetent\u2019 man brutally stabs woman"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Farmington
Farmington Police Chief Steve Hebbe, about Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham's public health order on guns and drugs: \u201cIf you were really to make the case it is a public health crisis, I might even agree with you.\u201d Brad Ryan\/Special to The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Prior charges dismissed when DA says man was not dangerous<\/div>\n

Farmington Police Chief Steve Hebbe is calling for a \u201cthorough review of our justice system\u201d after a man who was ruled \u201cnot competent\u201d and deemed not dangerous reportedly stabbed a woman 20 times.<\/p>\n

George Joshua Schwerin, 34, of Red Valley, Arizona, was released from jail on July 31, after District Judge Stephen Wayne found him incompetent to stand trial in a case that involved charges of possession of a stolen vehicle, DWI and open container, according to court records.<\/p>\n

Schwerin had repeatedly failed to appear for court dates and should have been held in jail, according to Hebbe.<\/p>\n

\u201cRepeatedly failing to show up for court and getting released again is a disgrace,\u201d the chief said.<\/p>\n

The bigger issue, according to Hebbe, was that all charges against Schwerin were dismissed, when both the DA and the defense attorney stated that the \u201cdefendant is not dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schwerin was released from custody.<\/p>\n

\"George
George Joshua Schwerin, 34, is charged with a third-degree felony aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in the stabbing of a woman at the Journey Inn.<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cSix days after his release, he stabs an innocent woman more than 20 times. She has barely survived,\u201d Hebbe said. \u201cEvery one of us should be sick of the repeated excuses, rationalizations, and denials that there is a problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

The woman Glenice Townsend, 69, was left fighting for her life at UNM Hospital in Albuquerque.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere is another example of the failures within the New Mexico criminal justice system,\u201d Hebbe said.<\/p>\n

He added he is certain there will be \u201cno reaction from the court system, no investigation to find out what went wrong, no new legislation to ensure victims and the public are protected, and no accountability for the repeated failures that lead to innocent New Mexicans being assaulted or killed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Deputy District Attorney Brian Decker said because Schwerin\u2019s prior cases were \u201cdrug-related,\u201d he was deemed \u201cnot dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n

If the DA and the judge thought he was dangerous, he would have been sent to the state hospital in Las Vegas, until he was restored to competency, Decker said, adding that non-dangerous individuals can be placed in a \u201ccommunity-based restoration program,\u201d that provides local treatment to restore an individual to competency.<\/p>\n

However, Decker pointed out one does not exist in San Juan County, which resulted in the dismissal of all charges.<\/p>\n

\u201cCompetency is a huge issue when serious charges are simply dismissed as a result,\u201d Hebbe said.<\/p>\n

A review of court records show that Schwerin did have an arrest of a violent nature in 2020, when he was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon \u2013 a charge to which he pleaded guilty.<\/p>\n

In that case he pulled a knife on a man and told him he would \u201cjack you up,\u201d court records show.<\/p>\n

Decker said that did not meet the level of danger to be committed to the state hospital.<\/p>\n

Schwerin also was charged with battery in 2018 for reportedly hitting a woman with his hand, while he was driving. The charge, however, was dismissed when he pleaded guilty to DWI.<\/p>\n

The new aggravated battery with a deadly weapon charge is for the alleged brutal stabbing of Townsend in the head, neck and chest, according to the affidavit for arrest warrant.<\/p>\n

She was flown to the University of New Mexico hospital and was being treated for a collapsed airway because of a neck laceration. She reportedly told police that \u201cJoshua\u201d stabbed her, and that is Schwerin\u2019s middle name, the affidavit states.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is so much talk of accountability and transparency for police. That never seems to hold for the court system and legislators that fail to protect citizens,\u201d Hebbe said. \u201cThis unfortunate victim, as so many victims across San Juan County and New Mexico, simply doesn\u2019t have a voice.\u201d<\/p>\n

The incident happened in Townsend\u2019s room at the Journey Inn, where police found Schwerin with, \u201ca large amount of blood on him without any injuries to his person,\u201d the affidavit states.<\/p>\n

There were possible blood stains on the \u201cbed, walls, floor and door,\u201d the affidavit states.<\/p>\n

Police said they found a \u201cblack folding knife lying on the ground,\u201d with a \u201clarge amount of red stains on the blade,\u201d according to the affidavit.<\/p>\n

Schwerin when initially questioned by Farmington police for the brutal stabbing, told them \u201che was incompetent,\u201d and then stated that he \u201chad mental health issues,\u201d according to the affidavit, which also states that when he was asked about his mental health issues and whether he was taking his medication, he refused to answer.<\/p>\n

The Tri-City Record<\/em> has made an Inspection of Public Records Act request for video recordings of Schwerin\u2019s police interview.<\/p>\n

After this brutal attack, the DA\u2019s office filed a motion for pretrial detention, stating that given Schwerin\u2019s criminal record and \u201caggressive conduct,\u201d the DA\u2019s office believes \u201cthere are no viable conditions of release to reasonably insure the safety of any person or the community\u201d should he be released.<\/p>\n

Other prior charges to which Schwerin pleaded guilty are possession of methamphetamine, aggravated fleeing and DWI, tampering with evidence and DWI, according to court records.<\/p>\n

A detention hearing is set for 8:30 a.m. Aug. 14 in Judge Wayne\u2019s courtroom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Farmington Police Chief Steve Hebbe, about Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham's public health order on guns and drugs: \u201cIf you were really to make the case it is a public health crisis, I might even agree with you.\u201d Brad Ryan\/Special to The Journal Prior charges dismissed when DA says man was not dangerous Farmington Police Chief […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16960,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-16959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16959","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16959"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16959\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21221,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16959\/revisions\/21221"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16960"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16959"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=16959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}