Perpetrator of double murder in modest St. Paul home convicted

Joseph Sandoval II is not the same man he was on Oct. 20, 2022, when he stabbed two men to death just hours after arriving at a sober living home in St. Paul, his attorney said in court Friday.

Sandoval had been placed in a civil cell because of his mental illness and chemical dependency, but was released from the community for now. His mental health issues had “gone to the extreme where it took away his control over his actions” and he was acting on voices on a television telling him to kill or be killed, Baylea Kannmacher, an assistant public defender, said during his sentencing hearing.

It took many months for Sandoval to regain legal capacity while in custody, thanks to “heavy” antipsychotic medications, so he could understand the trial, she said.

Sandoval was declared competent to stand trial in June 2023 and in May he entered a plea with Norgaard to two counts of second-degree intentional murder in the deaths of Jason Timothy Murphy, a 40-year-old handyman, and 56-year-old Jon Ross Wentz, a resident of a sober home in the city’s Payne-Phalen neighborhood.

Ramsey County District Judge Joy Bartscher on Friday handed the 34-year-old consecutive sentences totaling just over 38 years in prison. He will get credit for 638 days already served in custody.

After imposing 23 years and one month on count one, Bartscher agreed to Kannmacher’s request for a lighter sentence than sentencing guidelines and gave 15 years for the second count. She cited Sandoval’s “extreme” mental illness at the time of the killings, which left him without control over his actions.

“This case should never, ever have happened,” she added.

Sandoval’s case exposes the gap in “our systemic response to those who are incompetent to stand trial but do not receive adequate mental health care or supervision,” Ramsey County District Attorney John Choi said in a statement Friday.

Sandoval had five felony charges pending in Hennepin County in connection with three violent cases in Minneapolis, all filed in March 2021, according to court records. He was released from prison on parole on the charges and was found mentally incompetent to stand trial in June 2021.

About a month later, a Hennepin County judge civilly committed Sandoval to the Commissioner of Human Services and sent him to the Anoka Metro Regional Treatment Center under the supervision of the state of Minnesota. Five months later, in December 2021, “for reasons that make no sense and should not be justified,” his attorney said Friday, he was provisionally discharged to a sober home at Evergreen Treatment Recovery Center in St. Paul.

Photo of Joseph Francis Sandoval II, Capture — Joseph Francis Sandoval II (Courtesy of Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)

Within a month or two, Sandoval was off his medications, his attorney said. His medications were refilled and changed, and he repeatedly tested positive for various substances. His civil commitment was extended, but he remained in the community, struggling with his mental illness and self-medicating.

“The people charged with Mr. Sandoval’s safety did not do their jobs,” she said.

Nearly a year later, on the afternoon of Oct. 20, 2022, Evergreen transferred Sandoval to its East Side sober living home in the 1100 block of Lawson Avenue. Evergreen’s housing counselor drove him there, helped him move his belongings into the living room and gave him a TV remote, prosecutors said.

“They’re going to kill me”

Officers responded to the home around 4:30 p.m. on a report of a man yelling that someone had been murdered in the home.

Officers saw a man, later identified as Sandoval, leave the home and walk toward an alley. He had blood on his clothes, cuts on his face and hands, and appeared to be under the influence of an unknown substance. He told officers he had ingested fentanyl.

Sandoval said he had just moved into the house and didn’t know anyone who lived there. He said “two big guys” caused his injuries, but he couldn’t describe them. He then said someone tried to kill him and that person “got those other guys, too,” the complaint said.

Sandoval said he sat down on the couch when he arrived at the sober home. He said, “I heard noises. The TV kept saying ‘take your chance,’ so I took my chance,” the complaint states. When an investigator asked Sandoval what he meant, he said, “The TV said they were going to kill me. When I was watching ‘Dragon Ball Z’ (a Japanese anime television series).”

Officers saw drops of blood in the kitchen and on the stairs leading to the basement, where Murphy was found dead. Wentz lay dead in an upstairs bedroom, a bloody knife and a bloody hammer beside him. Both men had multiple cuts and stab wounds, many to the neck and head. Autopsies would later show they died from blood loss.

After hospital staff released Sandoval, police took him to the Ramsey County Jail. There, Sandoval told an officer, “When you can’t protect someone you love most in the world, it eats at you, it eats at you, it eats at you until it boils over,” the complaint states. He added, “I just wanted a quiet room.”

A ‘broken’ system

Murphy’s mother, Marsha Murphy, told the court Friday that she and her husband, Bob, were on a cruise celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary when their son was killed. They learned of the murder when they returned home three days later, where a police officer was waiting for them at their front door.

Jason Timothy Murphy, right, with his parents Bob and Marsha Murphy and daughter Madisyn Murphy. (Courtesy of Madisyn Murphy)

“I can’t imagine or understand what my son went through, what his thoughts would have been, if he had even been aware of what was happening,” she said. “We will never know in our lifetime. But my hope and prayer as a mother is that it happened quickly.”

Murphy, who was adopted by the couple nine days after birth, was good at sports as a child and enjoyed woodworking. Growing up, he had “some struggles in life,” then met a girl, fell in love and “gave us the best gift ever, our beautiful granddaughter, Madisyn,” his only child, his mother said. “He loved Madisyn so much.”

The day he was killed, Murphy was helping the man who ran the sober house. “Jason would help him a lot. Jason was a handyman who worked in the basement and did what he loved to do … help others,” his mother said.

Madisyn Murphy, his 17-year-old daughter, said the thought of never seeing her father again, hearing his voice or feeling his embrace “is a pain that words cannot adequately describe. The pain is constant and overwhelming.”

Daniel Blask, Wentz’s brother-in-law, said he was the grandfather of three boys. Despite facing his own demons, he was a man of “incredible kindness and unwavering love for his family.”

Jon Ross Wentz pictured in a 2022 photo (courtesy of Angela McGowan)

“Jon deserved a chance to live,” he said, “to overcome his battles and continue to be the light of our family. Instead, his future was taken away from him.”

Wentz had a right to safety in a state-licensed group home, said his mother, Sandy Wentz.

“I believe Jon’s murder was in part the result of many systemic failures,” she said in her statement, read by Assistant Ramsey County Attorney Daniel Rait. “The mental health system needs more funding and accountability. Hopefully, Jon’s death can be the beginning of change.”

Judge Bartscher asked Sandoval if he wanted to address the court. “No, ma’am,” he said, as his mother and two other family members watched from the courtroom gallery.

Sandoval had entered a plea to the charge, meaning a defendant says he cannot remember what happened because of drug use or mental health issues at the time, but acknowledges there is enough evidence for a jury to convict beyond a reasonable doubt.

Sandoval is responsible for what happened and will be held accountable for what he did, Bartscher said before imposing the sentence.

“But we also have to find a way as a society to hold ourselves accountable for the decisions that we make. And for whatever reason, the way our system works is … it’s broken,” Bartscher said. “Mr. Sandoval should not have been in the community.”