Robert Dear found incompetent: What’s next?
Judge Gilbert Martinez ruled Wednesday that Robert Dear is not currently competent to stand trial.
According to his 8-page ruling released after the hearing, Dear suffers from “Delusional Disorder, persecutory type”, according to experts who evaluated him.
The disorder refers to people who think they are being targeted by particular individuals or groups.
In the case of Robert Dear, psychologists reported that Dear believes the federal government is out to get him, and everyone involved in his trial including his own attorney is in on it.
Due to those delusional beliefs, Dear was found to be unable to assist in his own defense, and therefore incompetent to stand trial.
District Attorney Dan May says he will respect the judge’s ruling, and hopes to have Dear back in El Paso County in a few months to resume the criminal trial, but for now the case is at a standstill.
Dear will be sent to the Colorado Mental Health Institute in Pueblo to be restored to competency. A hearing to review his progress has been scheduled for August 11.
When the judge read the ruling, Dear yelled “You’re prejudice! You filthy animal!”
Martinez was in accordance with Dr. Gray and Dr. Grimett’s findings that Dear is incompetent and suffers from a delusional disorder. The doctors said Dear believes the FBI has been following him for 20 years.
“Every 90 days the state hospital is required to report back to the court on his status and whether he has been restored back to competency in their opinion or not,” said district attorney, Dan May.
Mental health expert Larry Nutter spent years working with inmates with mental illnesses. Nutter said in all likelihood, Dear will never be cured of his disorder and he will live out his days in the State Hospital.
“I absolutely doubt it will work at all,” said Nutter. “They never change their delusional disorder, it just stays.”
Dear can receive treatment for as long as the sentence he faces. That means if he could receive life in prison, he could spend his life getting treatment. Nutter said Dear will bounce back and forth between treatment at the State Hospital and court hearings until eventually, the prosecution will concede he is not guilty by reason of insanity.
