Previously on Common Law, public defender Lacy Gilmour showed how jail overcrowding in Wichita can inhibit talking to clients about their cases. This time, moving inmates to smaller counties prevented a mentally ill client from staying on his medications. He returned Wichita, unmedicated, and violated his probation. He had to go back to jail, even though he faced a judge who understood his plight and the shortage of community resources to help him. (Watch video after the jump)
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The majority of people in U.S. prisons suffer from some form of mental disorder. Lennie Coleman was one of them. The 66-year-old had just served nearly three years for threatening his neighbors when he was arrested again for drugs. Even his neighbors said he needed help. The law said Coleman should go to prison on the latest charge. Judge David Kaufman had to decide what was in the best interests of both the defendant and the community.
(Watch video after the jump)
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Sedgwick County District Judge Ben Burgess this morning reinstated the case against Charles Cullum, who is accused of shooting Rosann Kapaun nearly two years ago.
Cullum’s case had been taken off the docket last spring for him to undergo a mental evaluation. Cullum returned to court this morning after being determined competent to understand the charges against him and assist in his defense.
Kapaun, 43, was the niece of the Rev. Emil Kapaun, the man for whom Kapaun Mount Carmel High School in Wichita is named. Police say she was abducted from her apartment in west Wichita on May 16, 2007. She was shot and killed the next day. Her body was found in the 1600 block of East 46th Street South.
In October, two co-defendants were sentenced for participating in the killings of Kapaun and Chad Clayton.
Clayton, 26, was shot during a robbery at a house in the 6700 block of West O’Neil, six days after Kapaun’s kidnapping. Steven Cornelius received a 24-year prison sentence and Eric Huerta is serving 31 years for second-degree murder, aggravated kidnapping and other charges.
Cullum’s trial is tentatively set for next month.
Wichita Municipal Court officials tell us that the city has received a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice for a mental health court.
City officials say the court has been trying to get a grant for two years. Although they don’t know how much money they’ll be getting, they have received approval for federal funding.
The word on the new court follows a story I wrote for the Eagle about the growing problem of mentally ill people ending up in prison and another story about the training received by police for handling mentally ill people in crisis situations.
According to criminal justice experts, the mental health court is the next step in helping reduce the numbers in prison. Mental health courts follow the model of drug courts as a way of giving alternatives to punishment for people who may have run afoul of the law because of their illnesses or addictions.
Wichita Municipal Court has already developed drug courts for city offenders charged with misdemeanors.
Sedgwick County District Court is beginning a drug court for more serious offenders this fall. Parole officers and mental health providers have told us they hope that a mental health court for felony offenders also will follow.
A man accused of crashing his car through City Hall in January has been determined mentally competent to stand trial.
Marcus L. Johnson was pulled off the docket when Judge Eric Yost signed an order in February for a mental evaluation. Doctors determined Johnson is able to understand the charges and assist in his defense. His next hearing is set for May 12.
Wichita police said Johnson became enraged when a police officer asked him to turn down his car stereo in the parking lot of convenience store on Jan. 6. Police said Johnson then drove off and right through the entrance of City Hall. This is how Johnson appeared the first time before Yost:
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A man who claimed he went to a school to pick up a 14-year-old girl for sex after she mentally communicated with him won’t be standing trial. Jesus Gallardo-Gonzalez has been found mentally incompetent.
This may not surprise people who read our post in January about his claim of telepathic communications. But it’s a surprise to his lawyer, because it’s rare for a defendant to be found mentally incompetent.
“It’s the first one I’ve had,” said public defender Pam McLemore.
Gallardo-Gonzalez was admitted to a mental hospital for treatment.
Turns out the man accused of trying to pick up a 14-year-old girl from school last month for sex also claimed to be carrying on psychic conversations with the teenager.
The girl told school officials she’d never seen Jesus Gallardo-Gonzalez before. But the 36-year-old man told police the girl had spoken to him through telepathy. He said she’d sent him a mental message to pick her up from Curtis Middle School and “had shared problems in her life with him while communicating psychically,” according to a police report.
His case is on hold pending a mental competency evaluation.