Experts: Dear’s outbursts won’t necessarily affect trial proceedings

The accused Planned Parenthood shooter interrupted his court hearing more than a dozen times Wednesday, leading some to wonder if his outbursts would affect a trial.

Robert Dear lashed out throughout the filing of formal charges against him, much of his anger aimed at his defense attorney, Daniel King. King also represented the convicted Aurora theater shooter, James Holmes.

Jeremy Loew, a criminal defense attorney in Colorado Springs, told KRDO NewsChannel 13 that attorneys deal with difficult clients on a regular basis, and Dear’s outbursts in court don’t necessarily hurt the defense.

“You have clients that will cuss you out, will spit on you, will refuse to talk to you, refuse to meet with you,” Loew said.

Loew said that Dear will likely first be evaluated for competency.

“He has been assigned a public defender. This public defender has to be able to work with his client,” Loew said. “The defense attorney or the prosecutor, or even the judge for that matter, have the obligation under the law to ask for a competency evaluation. If he’s not competent to proceed, what they will do is provide some level of medication and do their best efforts to restore him to competency. If he refuses to take medication, a judge can sign an order, forcing him to take medication.”

Loew said though he assumes the defense will want to reach a plea agreement, if the prosecution wants to pursue the death penalty against Dear, the case will go to trial. If Dear continues to interrupt court proceedings, a judge can ask him to participate in another room through a video camera.

Dear is scheduled to be back in court on Dec. 23.