An illegal immigrant found not guilty by reason of insanity in a 2019 killing managed to flee the United States on a one-way flight to his native Tajikistan while on an approved 48-hour pass from a state mental health facility.

Now a Soros-backed prosecutor is under fire for his pattern of pursuing insanity pleas for violent offenders who are illegal immigrants.

Steve Descano, commonwealth's attorney for Fairfax County, Va., speaks at an event at the Center for American Progress about Virginia’s newly elected progressive prosecutors. (Getty Images)

In 2022, a court committed Abdulloi Toshpulodzoda after finding him not guilty by reason of insanity in the 2019 killing of his landlord, Mohammad Hemmatian, in Vienna, Virginia. Officers who reached the scene found him covered in Hemmatian's blood. He told them, "I am guilty.” Investigators believed Islam-inspired attitudes drove the violence.

Toshpulodzoda left the Northern Virginia Mental Health Institute (NVMHI) in Falls Church on July 6 under an unaccompanied 48-hour pass, a privilege allowed under Virginia law for certain committed patients. Instead of returning, boarded a Turkish Airlines flight at Washington’s Dulles International Airport to Istanbul, and continued to Dushanbe, Tajikistan, according to airline records attached to court filings.

The escape came mere days after a Fairfax County judge ruled that Toshpulodzoda still needed hospitalization. "On June 29, 2026, this Court found that the Acquittee remained mentally ill and in need of inpatient hospitalization," court documents state.

This was not the first time authorities let Toshpulodzoda move outside a locked ward without an escort. He traveled to Washington, D.C., in 2024 to obtain a passport, and the Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office, led by Steve Descano, supported the trip.

NVMHI placed Toshpulodzoda on escape status once he missed the deadline, revoked his pass, and issued a facility warrant. Virginia State Police, federal authorities, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection all received notice of the case, and CBP issued an alert in case he tries to reenter the country.

"Abdulloi Toshpulodzoda was found by clinicians to be insane at the time he killed Mohammad Hemmatian – a legal finding that means the Commonwealth would be unable to secure a conviction at trial,” the Fairfax County Commonwealth's Attorney's office said in a statement. The office said prosecutors have opposed his release at every annual review hearing, including in June, and that a bench warrant went out the moment they learned he had escaped custody, adding that he "will be arrested and brought to Virginia" if he reenters the country. The Fairfax County Commonwealth's Attorney's office, NVMHI, and Turkish Airlines did not respond to requests for comment.

Descano has been in office since 2020. His campaign received funding from left-wing megadonor George Soros. His office has pursued insanity agreements for 13 accused murderers claiming they were unfit for trial, and Descano himself has managed to survive two recall efforts over his criminal justice record.