Judge rules in favor of forced psychiatric medication to enable suspect to stand trial

64-year-old Robert Dear armed himself with four semi-automatic rifles, five handguns, two other rifles, a shotgun, propane tanks and 500 rounds of ammunition, prosecutors allege, before shooting his way into a Colorado Planned Parenthood in 2015 and killing three people. He has been declared mentally ill and incompetent to stand trial. Last week, a federal judge ruled that he could be forcibly medicated with “anti-psychotic” drugs in order to meet the legal standard for mental competency.

Dear has stated that he intended to wage “war” against the abortion center and that he saw himself as a “warrior for the babies” in preventing women from killing their unborn children. He denies that he suffers from the “delusional disorder” he has been diagnosed with. According to “experts” who testified in court, his disorder consists of the belief that the FBI is persecuting him, his mistrust of his attorneys – who are federal public defenders – and his conviction that they, and the judge, are in cahoots with the FBI against him. He is also considered to be incapable of having a rational understanding of the case against him.

“I’m opposing it; I’m not crazy,” Dear shouted via a video feed from a mental health facility in Missouri where he was being held. He has repeatedly refused to take “anti-psychotic medication” although he was forced on a number of occasions to ingest pills prescribed for him.

Dear was evaluated by psychologists Lea Ann Preston Baecht and Dr. Robert Sarrazin, who concluded that psychotherapy was not sufficient to help Dear and that medication was necessary. Preston Baecht also stated her opinion in court that there would be no side effects from the drug that could render Dear incompetent to stand trial or communicate with his attorneys, to which Dear responded, “Bull....t.”

U.S. District Judge Robert Blackburn then ruled that “involuntary medication” was the only realistic approach to take and that it had a substantial chance of making him competent to stand trial. He appeared to dismiss concerns raised by Dear’s lawyers that the drugs could worsen Dear’s high blood pressure and high cholesterol, even though such drugs are known to tamper with the metabolism and cause a host of medical problems.

Dear protested the decision, saying: “This is my brain at stake. They want to turn me into a zombie.” Judge Blackburn then warned him to be quiet or he risked being removed from the hearing.

“Anti-psychotic medication” was often used in the USSR in what has been labeled psychiatric abuse of political prisoners, in order to punish them, render them docile, and supposedly “cure” them of anti-Soviet sentiments. All the various drugs used to treat symptoms labeled as psychosis, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder etc. act by altering levels of neurotransmitters in the brain, even though there is no evidence that such treatment amounts to a cure. Indeed, this class of drugs was once known as “major tranquillizers” as their main effect is to induce apathy toward psychotic symptoms and render the patient more amenable.

Tranquillizers are also commonly meted out to elderly and cantankerous people in order to make life easier for their caretakers, even though studies have shown a link between sedatives and higher risk for dementia.