District Attorney discusses stagnant Robert Dear case

Following the federal indictment of Robert Dear on 68 new criminal counts, 4th Judicial District Attorney Dan May admitted that his own case against Dear has become especially frustrating.

The self-admitted gunman in the 2015 Planned Parenthood attack in Colorado Springs appeared in federal court Monday to face 65 counts of blocking access to a federally-protected reproductive clinic and 3 counts of federal firearms charges.

The next few weeks will reveal whether federal prosecutors have more success than local prosecutors, who are unable to proceed in their case because Dear remains mentally incompetent to stand trial.

That 2016 ruling from mental health examiners means Dear is unable to understand the court process or assist in his own defense, and it has been repeatedly affirmed by doctors at the Colorado Mental Hospital in Pueblo at each routine hearing that takes place every 90 days.

In an interview with KRDO news partners 9News in Denver, May said the lack of progress at the state's mental hospital is disappointing, and he blames it on such a crowded system.

"They're overwhelmed right now. They're overwhelmed and underfunded, undermanned down at the state hospital," he said, "I can't tell you why. you'll have to ask somebody else, but over the last few years, defense attorneys have been asking for more and more competency evaluations, which is just flooding the state hospital, and they really don't have the resources to address it."

According to local defense attorney Jeremy Loew, it's possible Robert Dear will go through the same competency evaluation process at the federal level, and if he is found competent in that case, that finding could then be used to get him to trial at the state level.

May has long maintained that Dear is competent, and has argued that point based on the fact that Dear is actually teaching a class at the mental hospital that is intended to help other patients become competent to stand trial.

"When you go down to the state hospital, they are trying to return you to competency if they can," he explains, "Part of that is they teach classes. They're teaching you what does a defense attorney do? What does a judge do? What does a prosecutor do? What is a plea bargain? What does it mean to go to trial? So they're teaching you the parts because a lot of people don't understand anything the courtroom and they can't understand who their attorney is or what that person does. We have put on the record that Dear has been teaching those classes to other inmates down there, so that they know what it is to be competent in the courtroom.

May believes if Dear is able to explain the court process to other patients at the state hospital, that shows a level of competency that should allow his own criminal case to finally move forward.

However, after our story originally aired on December 10, the Director of Policy and Communications for the Colorado Office of Behavioral Health emailed KRDO, claiming Dear was not teaching any classes.

"CMHIP patients do not facilitate restoration classes or groups. All groups are provided and led by CMHIP staff," wrote Elizabeth Owens.

However, when asked for clarification on what role (if any) Dear might have played in that type of instructional situation, Owens said she was not allowed to comment due to HIPAA patient privacy restrictions.

Dear's next competency hearing in state court is January 9.

He is due back in federal court on Friday.

NOTE: Being ruled "incompetent to stand trial" is separate from pleading guilty by reason of insanity. Even if Robert Dear was found to be competent to stand trial, he could still plead guilty by reason of insanity and go through a separate evaluation process to determine if he knew the difference between right and wrong at the time the alleged crimes occurred.