re: DeCarlos Brown Jr. found incompetent to proceed in Charlotte light rail killing

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Man accused of killing Iryna Zarutska on Charlotte light rail found ‘incapable to proceed’

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It just means he can't be tried. Depending on what happens with the federal charges, he will remain in custody at a secure psychiatric facility indefinitely.

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Correct. He very well could be there for life.

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In 2014, the Great Falls, Montana, man was charged with assaulting two detention officers while he was in jail, accused of theft. A mental health evaluation concluded that Fowler, who has been diagnosed with schizophrenia, was unfit to stand trial, according to court documents. After Fowler received psychiatric treatment for several months, a judge ruled that he was unlikely to become competent anytime soon. His case was dismissed, and after a stay in the state-run psychiatric hospital, he was released.

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When Mental Illness Leads to Dropped Charges, Patients Often Go Without Stabilizing Care

By Katheryn Houghton
AUGUST 4, 2022
A photograph of an older man sitting in a chair with his hands in his lap. He is visible from the waist down.
(JOHNER IMAGES ROYALTY-FREE/GETTY IMAGES)
For seven years, Timothy Jay Fowler rotated between jail, forced psychiatric hospitalization, and freedom.

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In 2014, the Great Falls, Montana, man was charged with assaulting two detention officers while he was in jail, accused of theft. A mental health evaluation concluded that Fowler, who has been diagnosed with schizophrenia, was unfit to stand trial, according to court documents. After Fowler received psychiatric treatment for several months, a judge ruled that he was unlikely to become competent anytime soon. His case was dismissed, and after a stay in the state-run psychiatric hospital, he was released.

Roughly eight months after the dismissal, Fowler was arrested again, accused of beating a stranger with a metal pipe. As before, he was found unfit for trial, the charges were dropped, and he was eventually released.

At least five times from 2014 through 2021, Fowler went through the same cycle: He was picked up on serious charges, mental health professionals declared him incompetent, and his case was dismissed. Fowler declined to be interviewed for this article. As of July, he hadn’t faced felony charges for more than a year.

In the U.S., criminal proceedings are halted if a defendant is determined to be incompetent. What happens after that varies from state to state. No one is tracking how often criminal charges are dismissed because defendants’ mental illness prevents them from understanding the court process to help in their defense.

Some states have policies to transition hospitalized patients to independence after their criminal charges have been dropped. But in others, such as Montana, there are few landing spots for such patients outside of jail or a hospital to aid in that transition. Health professionals, county attorneys, and criminal defendants have said people declared unfit for trial may have a short stay in a psychiatric hospital before being released without additional oversight.

…Plus, health professionals say most defendants who are determined to be incompetent become stable enough through treatment for their case to continue.

Some never do. The criminal justice system has long been a revolving door for defendants with a mental illness. The national nonprofit Treatment Advocacy Center, which advocates to make treatment for a severe mental illness more accessible, found that as of 2017, 21 states made little-to-no effort to create programs that treat those defendants. That failure leaves individuals without stability, and some go on to hurt themselves or others.

…Minnesota has a process to identify, treat, and manage risk for people determined to be “mentally ill and dangerous.” However, maintaining appropriate staffing levels at treatment facilities has been a problem, as has finding enough community-based options for people who need a higher level of care than typical group homes can offer. Last year, a KARE 11 statewide investigation found dozens of cases in which people charged with serious crimes — including assaults, rapes, and murders — were deemed mentally incompetent and released without steady treatment or supervision. As a result, more people were hurt, according to the investigation.

…Lewis and Clark County Attorney Leo Gallagher said people are sometimes released as soon as their case is dismissed. An involuntary commitment for a mental illness requires people to be an imminent threat to themselves or others. Gallagher said that’s a high bar to meet.

By the time a motion for commitment goes before a judge after someone is found unlikely to become fit to stand trial, the defendant could have been jailed or hospitalized for months. That time frame makes it hard to prove an imminent threat remains, Gallagher said, and a judge is likely to deny the commitment.

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Under current law, felony defendants in similar cases must be released from jail when courts decide the person is unlikely to progress mentally to the point of being competent for trial, or 10 years from the court finding they are incapable to proceed, whichever comes first. Another provision requires dismissal of the charges once the person has waited without trial for longer than the maximum sentence corresponding to their charge.

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No trial necessary

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