Violent drug-abusing schizophrenic, twice accused of attempted murder in SF, unexpectedly released after date calculation blunder
A felon twice accused of attempted murder in San Francisco, and who has perpetrated a litany of other serious violence, has been unexpectedly released after a date calculation blunder this month led a judge to dismiss arson and assault charges.
Mara Paradox, born Chance Davis, a drug-abusing schizophrenic with borderline personality disorder, arrived in the city in 2015 having fled legal trouble in Texas, Colorado and New Mexico.
His criminal record includes the attempted murder of an elderly taxi driver in 2020, the attempted murder of another vulnerable man in 2022, assault with great bodily injury, assault with caustic chemicals, arson, false imprisonment, and intent to terrorize.
When he fails to take medication for his illness, which he does frequently, and instead takes cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana, which he does frequently, healthcare professionals report he is prone to erratic behavior, paranoia, poor judgment, anxiety, blackouts, insomnia and self-harm.
Concerned prosecutors had previously told the court that treating the defendant in the community would risk him going on to commit a super strike offense.
San Francisco District Attorney’s Office today said it intends to “promptly” refile the charges against Paradox.
Miscalculation upon miscalculation
Paradox, in custody, appeared on March 15 2024 for a routine status hearing in Department 12 of San Francisco Superior Court. This related to three felony counts of arson and one of assault with a deadly weapon arising from an incident on Sutter Street in July last year.
The court heard that one of the assigned assistant district attorneys had miscalculated the date of the hearing – believing it to be two weeks later. The court agreed to schedule another status hearing on April 11 before which it was anticipated both sides would discuss a potential resolution.
With all parties now paying attention to dates and deadlines, however, it became clear there was a more fundamental problem. Hours later Judge Harry Jacobs ordered the case against Paradox to be dismissed after his attorney pointed out the case had blown through the “60th last day” time limit for a trial to take place without that right having been waived.
“There is only one remedy that I know,” said Judge Jacobs, terminating the 2023 case.
The defendant, who had been in custody for nine months, was subsequently released from county jail.
His case provides a disquieting example of a troubled person drawn to San Francisco after falling into crime elsewhere in the country, and offers an insight in to how a breathtaking streak of violence has been maintained in the face of faltering efforts of a criminal justice system to protect the public.
A “substantial danger to public safety”
In March 2020 Paradox tried to murder an elderly taxi driver, stabbing him in the back, shoulder and arm with an eight-inch knife, missing vital organs only through chance, and the cabbie surviving with the help of a doctor who happened to be passing-by the Lower Haight incident scene.
Initially arraigned on three felony counts – attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon and battery with great bodily injury – Paradox was referred to a collaborative court.
Arguing against allowing him to participate in a diversion program Assistant District Attorney Kimberly Lutes-Koths noted “the substantial danger to public safety” Paradox posed.
“There is an unreasonable risk that Paradox will commit a super strike offense if treated in the community,” she presciently wrote of the likelihood of his harming someone so severely it would result in a sentence of life imprisonment or death.
At the time of that attack he had two pending cases in superior court – having been arrested twice in the Castro district four months earlier: firstly for smashing a car window after “acting strangely” on November 15 2019, and then, one week later, damaging another car and harassing passers-by.
In the first of those incidents – in which Paradox threw a rock through the rear window of a vehicle on Hartford Street in the Castro district – attorneys for Paradox inveigled the victims to sign a letter to the court, apparently drafted for them, requesting that the case be dismissed.
This prompted a response from the District Attorney’s office who pointed out that “vandalism is a quality of life crime that affects the public at large” and that a ‘civil compromise’ was not appropriate.
In January 2020 Paradox was booked on a charge of domestic violence.
On October 2 2022 Paradox tried to murder another “particularly vulnerable” man with a knife while, as the felony complaint points out, still on bail for the attempted murder of the taxi driver. He had been in Behavioral Health Court and was last released by Judge Christine Van Aken on August 29.
Little more than one month after the attack, on November 9 2022, he was released by Judge Patrick Thompson and sent to HealthRight 360.
Paradox was free to be arrested again, this time for arson, again, on July 10 2023. He was accused of ‘arson of a structure’ and ‘assault with a deadly weapon’ on Sutter Street in the city’s Lower Nob Hill neighborhood.
Arrival in San Francisco
Paradox’s crimes began almost as soon as he arrived in the city. On December 10, 2015 Hoodline reported that terrified employees barricaded themselves inside a Jackson Street hair salon as Paradox used a sign to smash the glass frontage before trying to set fire to a truck parked nearby.
Sentenced to probation for this offense, Paradox was brought back to court numerous times in 2016 and 2017 facing allegations that he had breached his probation conditions after further incidents. On each occasion the court released him ‘time served’ after no more than a few weeks and directed that he attend a residential drug treatment program. The ‘motion to revoke’ filed on January 4 2017 was submitted by then Assistant District Attorney, and current District Attorney, Brooke Jenkins.
In January 2018 Paradox was charged with assault with a deadly weapon having beaten a man with a skateboard. He pleaded guilty and, six months later, was released to a residential treatment program.
Attempted murder aside, Paradox’ record of lawbreaking includes: assault with great bodily injury, assault with a caustic chemical, false imprisonment, arson, felony domestic violence, intent to terrorize, exhibiting a deadly weapon, felony vandalism, burglary and theft.
He has run up a variety of out of state charges, including kidnapping, in New Mexico, Colorado and Texas.
Paradox has been diagnosed with schizophrenia, borderline personality disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder. Court documents also detail his use of cocaine, methamphetamine and cannabis.
“When unmedicated and under the influence of substances,” a prosecution filing notes, “[he] can present with up and down moods…depression, insomnia, flashbacks, self-harm, disorganized thoughts, paranoid and grandiose thoughts, suicidal ideations, anxiety, erratic behaviors, and poor insight and judgment.”
With his release It is an open question whether the prosecutor’s earlier concern about Paradox’s potential to commit a super strike offense will be borne out, and how representative his case is of how violent felons with florid mental illness are dealt with in the city.
This story has been updated.
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