Planned Parenthood Shooter Found Mentally Incompetent To Stand Trial

FILE - In this Dec. 9, 2015 file photo, Robert Lewis Dear, middle, talks during a court appearance in Colorado Springs, Colo. A defense attorney for Dear, who acknowledges killing three people at a Colorado Planned P... FILE - In this Dec. 9, 2015 file photo, Robert Lewis Dear, middle, talks during a court appearance in Colorado Springs, Colo. A defense attorney for Dear, who acknowledges killing three people at a Colorado Planned Parenthood clinic, asked a judge to commit his client to a psychiatric hospital for treatment but did not reveal whether a mental health exam found him competent to continue with his criminal case, on Thursday, March 24, 2016. (Andy Cross/The Denver Post via AP, Pool, File) MORE LESS

A Colorado judge ruled Wednesday that Robert Dear, the suspect in a shooting at a Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood clinic that left three dead and nine injured, is not competent to stand trial.

Judge Gilbert Martinez ordered Dear undergo a mental evaluation and be treated at a psychiatric hospital, Denver’s ABC 7 reported.

Dear previously had bizarre outbursts in court, calling himself “a warrior for the babies,” and demanding his public defender be fired so he could represent himself.

The 57-year-old, known as a drifter who lived “off the grid,” was charged with murder, attempted murder, and assault for the Nov. 27, 2015 attack.

This post has been updated.

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  1. Huh. I got the impression he knew what he was doing, per the legal definition of the insanity defense, but I wasn’t the one examining him. Not that things are really much easier for him down this road.

  2. Maybe if he had another gun he’d be fit to open carry.

  3. But most fanatic anti-choice fanatics are mentally ill.

    Will they all avoid prison?

  4. In my professional opinion, he was clearly a half a bubble off plumb.

    But those guys who did the edited PP hit job video should certainly be held responsible.

  5. It makes you wonder how it would be possible for a lunatic like this to have easy access to weapons.
    No, actually you don’t have to wonder how.

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