WELD COUNTY, Colo. — Weld County Sheriff Steve Reams is criticizing state lawmakers after he said his department was forced to release a "dangerous" man due to the state's competency laws.
Charges against Debisa Ephraim, 21, were dropped after he was found incompetent to proceed and not restorable, meaning he would not be fit to stand trial for the foreseeable future.
Ephraim was facing multiple charges, including attempted murder, stemming from multiple fights back in April. The sheriff’s office posted videos of those fights on its X page Monday.
***WCSO PRESS RELEASE***
— Weld County Sheriff (@WeldSheriff) September 8, 2025
Weld County Sheriff warning; inmate due to be released is a potential danger to the community
[Weld County] Content Warning the videos in this press release may be disturbing to some viewers as they depict acts of violence. Both video clips were edited… pic.twitter.com/zPNtluY9WB
“It’s demoralizing to see the criminal justice system fail the public the way it has,” Reams said. “This is not where I wanted to end up.”
The sister of the victim told Denver7 Investigates on Tuesday that they are still dealing with the trauma stemming from the incident. She asked that Denver7 not publish her name because she fears for her safety now that Ephraim has been released.
“First of all, it's a total shock. I think Coloradans don't know this,” she said.
Denver7 Investigates has spent nearly a year digging into the complexity of competency law in Colorado. During that time, several stories have risen to the surface, highlighting the widespread impact of a 2024 state law that mandated that judges must dismiss cases against suspects found incompetent and not restorable to stand trial. Before that change, the law said judges “may” dismiss the case, providing some flexibility.
“It’s the reality of what happens when bad policy is turned into bad legislation,” Reams said.
Since that law passed, a man who was accused of stabbing a Lakewood doctor in his office had his charges dropped last year before being admitted to the state hospital. Another suspect charged in a drunk driving crash that killed two people walked out of court in Jefferson County after he was found incompetent to stand trial and not restorable, despite objections from prosecutors.
Earlier this year, a suspect charged with attempting to kidnap children at an Aurora elementary school had charges dropped after national media attention.
Read our previous coverage below:
- Change to Colorado mental health law sparks issues with 2022 stabbing case in Lakewood
- Complexity of Competency: How state doctor decided a man is unfit to stand trial after fatal crash
- JeffCo judge drops charges against man accused of killing two women in 2021 drunk driving crash
- Charges officially dropped against attempted kidnapping suspect after competency finding
- Mental health competency in Colorado: Arapahoe Co. DA speaks with Denver7 after blowback over dropped charges
Denver7 Investigates looked into Ephraim’s criminal record and found 10 criminal cases since 2022 – a mixture of felonies and misdemeanors – all of which have been dismissed, most of them involving competency. Charges in some of those cases included theft, robbery and assault.
“I think the lawmakers probably thought, ‘Well, the people this bill is most going to impact are probably low-level offenders, you know, the person who is struggling with the mental health issues,'” Reams said. “But, you have to write laws based on the worst-case scenario, and the worst-case scenario is what we’re talking about right now.”
- Watch our full interview with Sheriff Reams in the video player below:
Now, both the sheriff and the victim's sister are calling for new legislation.
“I feel like the state should be responsible, and they should face up to all of these victims that are now piling up,” the sister said.
“The public needs to know and they need to put pressure on their lawmakers to fix it and fix it right now,” Reams said.
Denver7 Investigates reached one of the law’s main sponsors, State Sen. Judy Amabile (D-Boulder), by phone Tuesday. She said she recognizes there is a problem and is working on legislation to clarify the legal means to keep someone in the state mental health facility and who is in charge of doing that.
