Fairfax Co prosecutor backs release of mentally ill killer from psychiatric facility

The Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office has agreed to the conditional release of a man accused of murder, continuing a pattern of releasing individuals charged with violent crimes who were found not guilty by reason of insanity. 

Alexander Jahelka was accused of fatally stabbing his 66-year-old father in 2021. He was found not guilty by reason of insanity and committed to a mental health institution. 

Judge Dipti Pidikiti-Smith, an Indian immigrant, held a July 16 hearing on Jahelka’s request for release. The Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office agreed with a recommendation that he be released from custody.

Under the terms of his release, Jahelka was ordered to live in his apartment and work up to 40 hours per week. He is prohibited from leaving Virginia and must submit to random testing, according to Fox 5 DC. 

The decision came just 10 days after Abdulloi Toshpulodzoda, another man accused of murder who had been found not guilty by reason of insanity, left the same mental health facility on an unescorted weekend pass and boarded a one-way flight out of the country. 

The incident created criticism of Virginia’s policy of allowing people committed to psychiatric facilities to be granted unescorted passes to be around the general public. After the self-deportation of Toshpulodzoda, a spokesperson for Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger said that she "intends to get to the bottom of how a murderer who has been in custody for inpatient treatment for years — and as has been publicly reported, was denied conditional release as recently as June by a judge — was able to get a passport and flee the country."

Fairfax County Commonwealth's Attorney Steve Descano has a long history of agreeing to plea deals for individuals found not guilty by reason of insanity. Descano refers to himself as a “progressive prosecutor” on social media, adding in his bio on X: “safety and justice walk hand-in-hand.”

Another released individual, Robert Jablonski, was accused of attempted aggravated murder of a police officer after he aimed a crossbow at officers in 2022. He was found not guilty by reason of insanity in 2024. A Fairfax County judge said he should not be released, yet a judge granted his conditional release just one year later, with the agreement of the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office.