CrimProf Blog

Fatal Police Shooting of Mentally Ill Hostage-Taker Did Not Violate ADA

Police officers did not violate the Americans with Disabilities Act when they fatally shot a mentally ill hostage-taker, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit held Feb. 12 (Waller v. Danville, Va., 4th Cir., No. 07-2099, 2/12/09).

The decedent's sister argued that the officers did not face exigent circumstances because they waited two hours before taking action. She also contended that they should have reasonably accommodated his disability by not banging on the door and yelling at the decedent, but instead calling mental health professionals, contacting his family members, or seeking to administer medications to him.

But Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III, while stopping short of recognizing an “exigent circumstances” exception to ADA liability, said that the officers' reasonable belief “ ‘that this was a potentially violent hostage situation' … cannot help but inform” the ADA inquiry. He further concluded that the accommodations proposed by the sister were unreasonable, while the steps taken by the officers—including speaking with their supervisors, deploying a hostage negotiator, and attempting to calm the situation by waiting at least two hours before entering the premises—were reasonable under the totality of the circumstances, and thus satisfied any ADA duty of accommodation.

The Danville, Va., police received a 911 call at 9:23 p.m. on May 10, 2002, from a woman who said that she feared for her friend, whom she had not been able to reach for two days. The woman said her friend had a live-in boyfriend whom she described as a “mental patient” who had been “in and out of the hospital.”

‘Got Something for You.'

The police went to the boyfriend's apartment. He refused to let them in. The girlfriend called from inside that she was OK but that her boyfriend would not let her come to the door. The boyfriend told the police to leave him alone, and added, “If you come in here, I've got something for you,” leading the supervisor to think he had a weapon.

Checking with headquarters, the supervisor learned that the boyfriend had prior arrests for public drunkenness, disorderly conduct, and assaulting the girlfriend, and had indeed been in and out of mental institutions.

The police sent an experienced hostage negotiator to talk to the boyfriend, who yelled at the officer, “I'm going to blow your goddamned head off.” The police then ceased negotiation attempts and sent in an emergency response team. When the boyfriend came toward them in the apartment, swinging what appeared to be a scythe and brandishing what looked like a knife, three officers shot and killed him.
The decedent's sister, personally and as administrator of his estate, sued the city, alleging in part violations of the ADA and the Rehabilitation Act. She alleged that the city had discriminated against the decedent on the basis of his disability by unlawfully arresting him, using excessive force, and failing properly train officers properly in dealing with the disabled.

Read full article here. [Brooks Holland]

ABA Releases New Criminal Mental Health Reference Manual

New: Criminal Mental Health and Disability Law, Evidence and Testimony: A Comprehensive Reference Manual for Lawyer, Judges and Criminal Justice Professionals
Pre-order now with a 15% discount (January 2009)
This Comprehensive Reference Manual examines both criminal mental health and disability discrimination law from the points of view of lawyers, judges and other professionals within the criminal justice system. The manual builds on established resources within the ABA, including the Mental & Physical Disability Law Reporter, Mental Disability Law, Evidence and Testimony and Disability Discrimination Law, Evidence and Testimony. It synthesizes the best and most recent information at the ABA on mental health and discrimination law that specifically pertains to criminal justice matters. It also references the ABA's Criminal Justice Mental Health Standards. Regular: $110; $93.50 discounted. 458 pages. View contents. Order today

Dallas County probation program addresses addictions, bipolar disorder

Kimberly Armstrong says she has run from every drug program she was ever ordered to attend. But when she was sent to one offered by Dallas County probation aimed at treating both her drug addiction and bipolar disorder, she decided to stick with it.

"It seemed like a good program. So I thought I'd give it a chance," said Armstrong, 39, who has been sober and on her prescribed bipolar medications since April 8. She said she's stayed because people working with Dual Diagnosis care about her.

"To be honest, the thought of looking the judge in his face and him being disappointed in me keeps me on track," she said. "I want to be one of the statistics that makes it. I'm doing the best I can."

State District Judge Mark Stoltz manages the courtroom portion of the Dual Diagnosis probation program with a compassionate but heavy hand. Each Monday, between 40 and 50 participants fill the courtroom to provide weekly, biweekly or monthly updates, depending on where they are in their treatment process.

His biggest rule is honesty, followed closely by accountability. One by one, Stoltz calls each person's name and talks about what has happened since they last met. Case workers, probation officers, medical professionals and a public defender all gather to provide updates to the judge for each participant.

If someone has a relapse and uses, Stoltz gives that person credit for being honest about it. But there are still repercussions. He starts with making that person write an essay. If it happens again, they get community service. And if the problem persists, he'll order jail time.

But sometimes jail is the first option. One program participant copied one of Armstrong's essays and read it in court earlier this month as his own. The plagiarism got him 24 hours in jail. [Mark Godsey]

Continue Reading "Dallas County probation program addresses addictions, bipolar disorder"

New NYPD system alerts officers on the mentally ill

A day after the NYPD used a stun gun on an emotionally disturbed man, Iman Morales, volunteers meticulously cleaned blood from the sidewalk. Morales died when he fell from the second floor ledge in Brooklyn. (Newsday Photo / Ari Mintz / September 25, 2008)

The New York Police Department has a new alert system that lets officers know if they are responding to locations where police have previously been sent to deal with the mentally ill, an initiative sparked by the fatal 2007 shooting of a man who confronted officers with a broken wine bottle.

Under terms of the month-old initiative, a 911 dispatcher handling a "triggering incident" -- anything from a "shots fired" call to an assault in progress -- checks the address to see if it has been the scene of three previous incidents involving an emotionally disturbed person in the preceding 365 days, according to an internal NYPD order.

If so, the dispatcher tells responding officers about the previous incidents and sends to the scene an ambulance and the Emergency Service Unit, whose officers are best-trained to deal with the mentally ill.

A police patrol supervisor, who is usually armed with a portable Taser, is also sent to the scene. [Mark Godsey]

Continue Reading "New NYPD system alerts officers on the mentally ill"

19 crimes tied to mental health patients

State officials last week opened an investigation into the latest case of an Allegheny County mental health patient connected to a violent crime.

The state Department of Public Welfare doesn't comment on the details of such investigations, but the newest one coincides with the death of 39-year-old Dawn McGuire, whose decomposing body was found Thursday in the Shadyside apartment of David Wayne Alexander.

Police have charged Mr. Alexander, 40, with homicide. He told police that he strangled Ms. McGuire, according to a criminal complaint. The pair had lived together for several months.

Mr. Alexander, who has used a wheelchair since a car accident in North Carolina a decade ago, has a history of mental illness. Last year, he signed a court-ordered plan that compelled him to seek outpatient treatment at Mercy Behavioral Health.

Ms. McGuire's death is one of at least 19 serious incidents -- which the state calls "sentinel events" -- in Allegheny County since August of last year involving people with mental health problems.

The most prominent one centers on Andrea Curry-Demus, a Wilkinsburg woman who has been charged with killing a pregnant teenager and stealing her baby.

Very few violent crimes are connected to people with mental illnesses, but this year's high-profile cases have prompted state and local officials to take a closer look at how services are provided to people who live in the community -- at a time when Mayview State Hospital is nearing closure and more patients with criminal records are being treated in unlocked facilities. [Mark Godsey]

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Seattle police unit reaches out to the mentally ill

The former social worker on Ravenna Avenue Northeast used to help the vulnerable. Now, she's the one who needs help.

When she's delusional, the 66-year-old can be violent toward neighbors. In two years, her neighbors have called police a dozen times.

As Seattle Police Officers Scott Enright and Suzie Parton pull up one afternoon in September, they can barely see her home behind a wall of overgrown blackberry bushes. They wonder if she will be calm, confused or even safe.

She has physically attacked one neighbor and dumped cat box filler through another's sunroof. One night, she pounded on a sleeping 3-year-old's bedroom window, beckoning the child to come outside.

"That was super-scary for that family," said Parton, part of the Crisis Intervention Unit, which specializes in working with the mentally ill.

The woman isn't sick or dangerous enough to be detained for psychiatric help. Yet, when she's been arrested, her mental problems made her incapable of facing criminal charges.

With resources limited for the mentally ill, police often are the first to get called when someone is having a psychiatric meltdown. In a unique approach, the Seattle Police Department dedicated two officers to cases such as this one, hoping to prevent crises before they turn tragic.

Part cop, part social worker, Enright and Parton look for solutions for people who commit crimes because they are undiagnosed, off their meds or lacking access to services. They coordinate with social workers, probation officers and mental health professionals, hoping to get unstable people off the streets and into treatment, or jail.

"Getting them the treatment and social services they need meets a public safety need, which is what we're about," Enright said. [Mark Godsey]

Continue Reading "Seattle police unit reaches out to the mentally ill"

Are the mentally ill falling through the cracks?

The Kia Johnson case -- in which a Wilkinsburg woman with mental illness was charged with killing a pregnant teenager and stealing her baby -- drew worldwide news coverage this summer.

That startling homicide, though, was just one of at least 10 serious incidents involving local residents with mental illness that have occurred in Allegheny County neighborhoods in less than a year. Known as sentinel events, they are tracked by the state Department of Public Welfare. Officials here and around the country are struggling with how to prevent such violence or other problems.

In one case, Shadyside resident Terrence Andrews was arrested in the stabbing death of culinary student Lisa Maas. In another, Nang "Ricky" Nguyen was shot dead by police in Oakland after he brandished a meat cleaver. And Anthony Fallert drowned after he apparently walked away from a community mental health program on the South Side and jumped or fell from the Birmingham Bridge.

Andrea Curry-Demus, charged with the Kia Johnson homicide, had a history of mental illness and previous arrests for other crimes, including stabbing a woman and kidnapping a baby.

The series of sentinel events here, as well as incidents elsewhere such as the killing of 32 people at Virginia Tech in April 2007 by a gunman with a history of mental health problems, have left officials, grieving families and others to ask: Are people falling through the cracks of the community mental health system? And what might be done to prevent such problems from occurring? [Mark Godsey]

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Improving Responses to People with Mental Illnesses

Law enforcement officers throughout the country

regularly respond to calls for service that involve

people with mental illnesses—often without

needed supports, resources, or specialized training

These encounters can have significant consequences

for the officers, people with mental

illnesses and their loved ones, the community, and

the criminal justice system.

3

Law enforcement officers throughout the country

regularly respond to calls for service that involve

people with mental illnesses—often without

needed supports, resources, or specialized training.

Although these encounters may constitute a relatively small number

of an agency’s total calls for service, they are

among the most complex and time-consuming calls

officers must address.4 At these scenes, front-line5 Officers resolve the

officers must stabilize a potentially volatile situation,

determine whether the person poses a danger

to him- or herself or others, and effect an appropriate

disposition that may require a wide range of

community supports.

In the interests of safety and justice, officers

typically take approximately 30 percent of people

with mental illnesses they encounter into custody—

for transport to either an emergency room, a mental

health facility, or jail.

remaining incidents informally, often only able to

Continue Reading "Improving Responses to People with Mental Illnesses"

6

7 [Mark Godsey]

provide a short-term solution to a person’s longterm

needs. As a consequence, many law enforcement

personnel respond to the same group of

people with mental illnesses and the same locations

repeatedly, straining limited resources and fostering

a collective sense of frustration at the inability to

prevent future encounters. [Mark Godsey]

Continue Reading "Improving Responses to People with Mental Illnesses"

In response, jurisdictions across the country are

exploring strategies to improve the outcomes of

these encounters and to provide a compassionate

response that prioritizes treatment over incarceration

when appropriate. These efforts took root in the

late 1980s, when the crisis intervention team (CIT)

and law enforcement–mental health co-response

models, described in more detail below, first

emerged. Since that time, hundreds of communities

have implemented these programs; some have replicated

the models, and others have adapted features

to meet their jurisdiction’s unique needs. Although

this number represents only a small fraction of all

U.S. communities, there are many indications that

the level of interest in criminal justice–mental

health collaborative initiatives is surging.

Inside The Nation's Largest Mental Institution

Morning Edition, August 14, 2008 · The largest mental institution in the country is actually a wing of a county jail. Known as Twin Towers, because of the design, the facility houses 1,400 mentally ill patients in one of its two identical hulking structures in downtown Los Angeles.

On a recent morning, we took a visit to the floor devoted to the "sickest of the sick." As we arrived, a dozen deputies were working to restrain a patient and inject him with an anti-psychotic drug. The entire ordeal was videotaped — to protect the patient as well as the deputies. It was the first hint at the complexities that emerge from creating a mental hospital inside a jail.

The End Of Public Mental Hospitals

Until the 1970s, the mentally ill were usually treated in public psychiatric hospitals, more commonly known as insane asylums.

Then, a social movement aimed at freeing patients from big, overcrowded and often squalid state hospitals succeeded. Rather than leading to quality treatment in small, community settings, however, it often resulted in no treatment at all.

As a consequence, thousands of mentally ill ended up on the streets, where they became involved in criminal activity. Their crimes, though frequently minor, led them in droves to jails such as Twin Towers, says Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca.

"Incarcerating the mentally ill is not the right thing to do," he says.

But if they are housed in Twin Towers, Baca says he is determined to make sure they are treated for illness. [Mark Godsey]

Continue Reading "Inside The Nation's Largest Mental Institution"

Mentally ill lose right to self-representation

Filed at 10:19 a.m. ET
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that criminal
defendants with a history of mental illness do not always have the
right to represent themselves, even though they have been judged
competent to stand trial.

The justices, by a 7-2 vote, say states can give trial judges
discretion to prevent someone from acting as his own lawyer if they
are concerned that the trial could turn into a farce.

The decision comes in the case of an Indiana man who was convicted of
attempted murder and other charges in 2005 for a shooting six years
earlier at an Indianapolis department store.

The case is Indiana v. Edwards, No. 07-208. NACDL filed and amicus
curiae brief in support of neither party arguing that if an
unrepresented defendant is incapable of presenting a reasoned defense
due to mental infirmity, then he is not competent to represent
himself. The opinion is here:
http://www.scotusblog.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/07-208.pdf
NACDL's amicus brief, authored by Keven P. Martin, Abigail K. Hemani
and Dahlia S. Fetouh, of Goodwin Proctor LLP in Boston, and William F.
Sheehan in Washington, is here:
http://www.nacdl.org/public.nsf/newsissues/amicus_attachments/$FILE/IndEd_Amicus.pdf

The justices, by a 7-2 vote, say states can give trial judges
discretion to prevent someone from acting as his own lawyer if they
are concerned that the trial could turn into a farce.

The decision comes in the case of an Indiana man who was convicted of
attempted murder and other charges in 2005 for a shooting six years
earlier at an Indianapolis department store. [Mark Godsey]

The case is Indiana v. Edwards, No. 07-208. NACDL filed and amicus
curiae brief in support of neither party arguing that if an
unrepresented defendant is incapable of presenting a reasoned defense
due to mental infirmity, then he is not competent to represent
himself. The opinion is here:
http://www.scotusblog.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/07-208.pdf
NACDL's amicus brief, authored by Keven P. Martin, Abigail K. Hemani
and Dahlia S. Fetouh, of Goodwin Proctor LLP in Boston, and William F.
Sheehan in Washington, is here:
http://www.nacdl.org/public.nsf/newsissues/amicus_attachments/$FILE/IndEd_Amicus.pdf