Civil and criminal cases related to 2020 murder of Cotati social worker continue to drag on

Criminal and civil cases related to the 2020 murder of a social worker in Cotati continue through Sonoma County courts, with no clear end in sight.

Questions remain about the mental health of the then 18-year-old man accused of killing Sylvia Bracamonte, a 33-year-old Santa Rosa native, on March 20, 2020, while she was working at the Sanctuary House of Community Support Network, a home for older children and adolescents in Cotati.

Routine hearings have proceeded without much progress over the past two weeks.

Anderson Edgar Quinonez-Cabeza, a Sanctuary House resident, was charged with murder just days after Bracamonte's death.

And on June 19, 2020, her family filed a civil lawsuit against Sonoma County and her employer, Community Support Network, a Santa Rosa-based nonprofit that provides housing and behavioral health programs.

About a year later, Bracamonte's daughter, through her father, filed another civil action against the same parties.

Quinonez-Cabeza has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. His mental competency has been debated several times in court since then.

He appeared Friday in Sonoma County Superior Court in Santa Rosa to verify the scheduled filing of a mental status report.

Judge Dana Beernink Simonds ordered the report to be completed within three to four weeks, before the next scheduled court date on July 11.

A jury trial was set for August 2, but the date has been postponed several times before.

No family members were present during Friday's hearing.

Rhi Alyxander, who attended the hearing and said she was in contact with Bracamonte's family, said it had been difficult for Bracamonte's mother and other family members to continue attending court appearances.

“We get there at 8:30. We don’t call them until 10:30. And people have work,” Alyxander said. “So after four years, it’s a little hard for (Bracamonte’s mother) to find people to come with her or just for people to have some time off.”

Quinonez-Cabeza's attorney, Orchid Vaghti, declined to comment after the court appearance Friday.

Three amended complaints were filed in the first of the two civil cases. In the most recent filing, an amendment said Bracamonte told a supervisor at the Community Support Network that Quinonez-Cabeza said he had dreams about killing people and that Bracamonte was in those dreams. They responded by saying he might “have a crush on you.”

He also alleges that the organization failed to inform Bracamonte that it had changed its policy on admitting violent individuals with a history of serious psychiatric disorders and that it had allowed Quinonez-Cabeza to enter Sanctuary House after leaving an inpatient psychiatric medical treatment center.

The Community Service Network filed an objection to the final complaint, alleging that the family members had not established a strong enough legal basis for their arguments. On March 12, Judge Christopher Honigsberg issued a partial judgment in favor of the defendants.

In the second case, the defendants filed several stays, or legal objections, to the amended complaints. The most recent said the plaintiffs must provide additional evidence of how the county would control the Sanctuary House. A third amended complaint was filed on May 14.

The June 18 hearing to review the status of the two civil cases has been postponed to October 15.

Bracamonte, a mother of two, celebrated graduating from UC Berkeley with bachelor's and master's degrees despite dropping out of high school and becoming involved in drugs and gangs.

The Sylvia Bracamonte Memorial Scholarship was established at UC Berkeley in 2020. Several vigils have since been held to honor her memory and provide justice.

You can contact Madison Smalstig, editor-in-chief, at [email protected]. On X (Twitter) @madi.smals.