Victims of several cases may get a chance to have their cases heard in court after the county attorney’s office resubmitted five burglary cases to the grand jury that they previously declined prosecution on citing the suspects competency.
Five cases against Juan Zavaleta, a local man who has been arrested and charged with breaking into multiple homes in Bisbee are now back on the court docket despite the Cochise County Attorney’s Office letter dated August 15, 2026, which stated they were declining prosecution of Zavaleta. According to that letter the reason stated for the decline in prosecution was because Zavaleta had previously been found to be incompetent to stand trial and was not “restorable” despite the many times he had been through the county’s Giving Recovery A Chance (GRACe) program. A program intended primarily for heavy users of the criminal justice system whose mental health problems potentially affect their ability to assist in their own defense.
The cases were on the Monday, August 31, court docket for a pretrial conference for which Zavaleta was expected to attend but did not after refusing to leave his jail cell. Despite his refusal Superior Court Judge Joel Larson heard the matter. During the hearing Judge Larson said a mental health evaluation was ordered to have taken place on August 27 but that he had not yet seen the report. Zavaleta’s attorney Michael Hamburger said he did not know how long it would take for the report to be available and asked for a continuance in the case.