Andrew Coop/Unsplash
My feathers got ruffled one morning in November.
I’m a journalist. Not an idiot.
I was on hold for court for 90 minutes on the telephone, but court went fine. It’s what happened afterward that got my blood boiling.
I had been declared “Incompetent to Proceed” by a doctor and a judge for court proceedings against me. I was beaten by Denver Police after falling asleep in a park.
Denver Police have beaten me about five times in the two years I’ve lived here. The most recent beating, which occurred behind Crossroads Homeless Shelter, left me with charges of two felony accounts of assault on a peace officer.
They said I spit in the officer’s face and “donkey-kicked” another one. They also said I resisted arrest, refused to give my name, and a litany of other lies.
Denver cops regularly assault homeless
I won’t get into the specifics because I am trying to move past all the abuse. But I believe I have been targeted by police for some of my journalistic reports.
I fear the DA’s office is corrupt, and I told my competency evaluator just that.
I simply cannot believe they have not dropped the charges. The cops beat up a mentally ill person in crisis.
They do this to homeless people all the time. News reports of Denver Police brutality have disgraced the department in recent weeks.
They even admitted I have mental illness. A judge declared me “delusional” after all.
The cops punched a mentally ill man in the face four times as he lay on the ground begging for mercy. They even wrote in the police report they punched me in the face four times.
It would have been hard to hide. I was taken by ambulance from the scene of the beating to the hospital. A doctor worked two hours on my face.
That’s what the police did that day. Beat the daylights out of a homeless mentally ill man.
I needed mental health treatment. Not a beating.
Evaluator finally declares me competent
I suspected she would again declare me “delusional” in November. Because I again told her the police abuse was the result of blogs I have been written.
The hospital at first said my disturbing interactions with the FBI were “delusional.” Then they got to know me and began to read my blogs. They knew my story was true and I think it sort of shifted the focus to trauma-informed care.
Of course, none of the “experts” who said I was delusional wanted to see the emails I have from the FBI.
I will leave it at just those facts. I don’t want to be accused of being a conspiracy theorist.
To my surprise, the doctor ended up declaring me competent after the November evaluation.
Let me explain how my “Incompetent to Proceed” evaluation went that day.
First, she started off by saying that nothing from the proceeding would be confidential. In fact, the doctor said she was going to write reports for the D.A, the public defender’s office, and the judge.
Judge declares my story of being a journalist ‘delusional’
The judge declared me “delusional” and “incompetent” when I first explained I was a reporter who writes about human trafficking, political corruption, police brutality and more. I explained police are targeting me because of my journalism.
After a cognitive test and questions about basic legal knowledge, the doctor began to inquire about how I plan to proceed with my case. She was asking questions that pertain to the strategy of my case and are protected by attorney-client privilege.
Other questions seemed to be in violation of the Fifth, Sixth and Eighth Amendments of the United States Constitution.
When you’re incompetent to proceed, your court proceedings freeze. They can keep you that way for 10 years or longer, and they sometimes do.
So much for a speedy trial.
Doctor violates my Fifth Amendment rights
The doctor gave a brief “You don’t have to answer” disclosure at the beginning of the session. But when she started peppering me with questions about the defense of my case it was a blatant violation of the Fifth Amendment.
A Fifth Amendment refresher courtesy of the White House website:
The Fifth Amendment provides that citizens not be subject to criminal prosecution and punishment without due process. Citizens may not be tried on the same set of facts twice and are protected from self-incrimination (the right to remain silent).
I had not even been arraigned yet when I had my last competency evaluation in late November. The run-in with police happened more than a year ago.
And she persisted. And she said things that scared me, talking about how I could do prison time if I don’t take a plea.
They want me to plead guilty to misdemeanor assault on a peace officer in exchange for 18 months of probation.
The cops beat me up. This is ridiculous.
It’s true that I could go to prison if convicted of assault on a peace officer. But her talking about it got me terribly upset. I felt like she was badgering me.
Is she a doctor, or is she working for the DA’s office?
Doctor asks if I have ‘special powers’
The doctor asked bizarre questions, many of them gaslighting and insulting.
“Do you have any special powers?” she asked.
I should have told her I am Superman. Clark Kent.
At times, her questions became nagging and pestering, almost psychologically abusive.
They all have the same modus operandi. I had been evaluated four times.
If you’re wondering how a prolific journalist could be declared “incompetent,” so was everyone else, especially the clinicians in the state mental hospital.
Doctor saw all the evidence before I did
The doctor had access to discovery items such as the police body camera tape. My own public defender, Allen Whitlock, had not discussed the tape with me yet.
It’s ludicrous. The last question she asked me was, “Do you think it would be a good idea to discuss the details of your case with the DA?”
No. I do not. Which is why I did not answer her questions pertaining to the strategy of my case.
I became homeless but I never lost my pride
People underestimate me. Despite what I’ve been through my ego is intact.
I am a very smart man who has worked professionally as a journalist more than 30 years. I won’t have my Constitutional rights violated without a fight.
It’s bad enough the cops beat up. Several times.
I will say this for the incompetent to proceed program. It did cause me to get excellent mental health care at Pueblo state mental hospital.
If I had not gone to Pueblo, stigmatizing as it is, I would not have ended up with my current housing.
And I am incredibly grateful.
I also will say this: I still maintain I was targeted by police for my journalism, and there is nothing “delusional” about it. However, had I gone to court before those six months in the hospital it would have been a disaster.
Anger had washed over my body after a year of homelessness. I felt like a victim and always was on high alert. I yelled a lot.
I would have exploded with anger in the courtroom. After six months in the Pueblo hospital, I felt like a new person when I got out in June.
In that regard, being incompetent to proceed saved me.
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