Exclusive | Felon who went to prison for threat to ‘chop up’ a judge can represent himself at trial

A man accused with threatening to kill a judge a second time, can continue to defend himself in court even though he refused to meet with state psychiatrists.

Brandon VanWinkle’s bizarre behavior continued during a recent court hearing when he claimed he was the Messiah and said he was investigating the judicial system.

Still, a Walla Walla County judge ruled he was competent to stand trial on the latest of string of crimes — in particular threats to kill Superior Court Judge Alex Ekstrom.

The new charges came 10 months after he served five years for threatening to kill Ekstrom in 2016.

Judge Scott Wolfram is handling the case because all of Benton-Franklin judges have recused themselves because of VanWinkle’s alleged threats against a fellow judge.

VanWinkle has made several outrageous claims since taking over his defense, including including claiming his 10 previous felony convictions and dozens of misdemeanor charges were just to test the judicial system.

In two long, hand-written letters to the Tri-City Herald from jail, he also claimed to be the second coming of Jesus, along with pop singer Christina Aguilera.

The attorney helping VanWinkle along with an investigator asked for Eastern State Hospital psychologists to evaluate whether the 43-year-old man understands the proceedings and is competent to face criminal charges as well as act as his own attorney.

But after VanWinkle refused twice to meet with evaluators, Eastern State Hospital psychologist R. Cory Fanto said he couldn’t judge his mental health, according to his report filed in Benton County Superior Court.

“Available information does not reflect the presence of a mental disease or defect, rather behavior consistent with his last known diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder,” Fanto wrote.

The disorder is characterized by “a pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of others,” he concluded.

People with the disorder often break the law, lie, are impulsive, irritable and aggressive, he said.

Personality disorders aren’t considered the type of problems that would stop someone from assisting in their own defense, Fanto wrote.

VanWinkle was previously diagnosed with anti-social personality disorder when he was in Eastern State Hospital in 2012 when he faced charges for third-degree assault and third-degree malicious mischief.

Benton County Deputy Prosecutor Brittnie Roehm told the Herald following the recent hearing that under normal circumstances they would ask the judge to send VanWinkle to Eastern State Hospital and require him to meet with evaluators.

“However given the previous finding of competency and the evaluator’s findings, we believed that it would be appropriate to enter the order finding competency,” she said.

VanWinkle’s diagnosis of anti-social personality disorder has come up in previous court cases.

At the time of his sentencing in 2016 for threatening Ekstrom, VanWinkle’s attorney said he’d been diagnosed with an antisocial personality disorder stemming from some childhood abuse.

VanWinkle was originally arrested in November 2015 on drug paraphernalia charges.

Those charges were eventually dropped, but while in custody in court, he attacked another inmate being sentenced for child abuse.

At the time, a psychologist testified that VanWinkle’s own childhood abuse triggered the incident.

Court documents show he also threatened his attorney and a deputy prosecutor, leading his lawyer to tell sheriff’s detectives that she believed he was capable of following through on his threats.

He later expressed remorse for his behavior and in August 2016 was sentenced to seven years in prison.

Eastern State evaluation

Fanto’s report to the court details VanWinkle’s history of “bizarre unsafe behavior.” Mostly it focuses on including when serving his sentence with the Washington state Department of Corrections in 2012.

While he was in a state prison in March 2012, he only grunted to staff, made a cape out of his sheet and wanted to fight everyone. He had been pacing naked and hadn’t slept in a few days, Fanto said.

The strange behavior stopped the next day, according to Fanto’s report. Then, VanWinkle was well-groomed, alert and had normal speech and thought processes.

“Such a sudden change is not consistent with a genuine mood disturbance such as bipolar disorder,” he said.

His behavior continued to be volatile for the next few days. A mood stabilizer was prescribed, and no other records were found, Fanto said.

Then in October of the same year, VanWinkle was sent to Eastern State Hospital for an evaluation as he faced assault and malicious mischief charges.

At that point, he didn’t have any previous mental health diagnoses. He started as very pleasant and cooperative, but he became loud, rude and threatening when rules were enforced on him.

“He attempted to entice other patients to behave defiantly as he did. He wanted to be leader of the ward and managed to gain a few followers before his discharge,” Fanto wrote.

His behavior continued to oscillate between being calm and polite and making threats and trying to assault Eastern State Hospital staff members.

At one point, after being released from the seclusion, he called 911 to “report he had been assaulted, and later was overheard telling another patient he had done so because, ‘I just wanted to see what they would do.’”

After attacking another Eastern State patient, VanWinkle was released to the sheriff’s office. At that point, he was diagnosed with anti-social personality disorder, Fanto wrote. Hospital officials said he could understand the proceedings and help in his own defense.

Benton County jail records don’t show any mental health treatment during any of his stays in jail. Staff met did meet with him on Feb. 8, 2022, and didn’t find any signs of mental illness.

During that meeting, VanWinkle said his goal was to get into mental health or drug court.

Tri-City Herald letters

While he’s been in Benton County jail facing new charges, VanWinkle has sent two letters to the Tri-City Herald claiming he was visited by God on Feb. 22, 2012 who said he was the Messiah.

In the letters, he says singer Christina Aguilera is his queen. He references the show, “The Voice,” which featured the singer.

He spends most of both letters using numbers associated with his birthday, Aguilera’s birthday and their names to try and prove his theories.

He also references the story of Rip Van Winkle, written by Washington Irving in 1819. In the story, Van Winkle disappears for 20 years after falling asleep in the Catskill Mountains.

Crimes

VanWinkle is accused of three felonies that were committed in the span of a month.

VanWinkle was released from prison in April 2021, but was supposed to continue to keep in touch with the state Department of Corrections.

He had stopped reporting in November, two months before he was reportedly caught robbing a store at Columbia Center mall for clothes.

When an employee tried to stop him, he is accused of hitting her in the face.

He was arrested and four days later he reportedly had a destructive outburst in the jail, including throwing feces, breaking things and spitting blood and saliva.

On Feb. 3, VanWinkle was supposed to be in court for a motion to either dismiss his charges or get treatment.

The hearing was scheduled for a day when Judge Ekstrom would normally be hearing cases. Since he was the victim of VanWinkle’s previous threats, the judge removed himself from hearing the case and rescheduled for another judge.

When a jail corrections officer told VanWinkle about the delay, he allegedly told the officer “to tell him (Ekstrom) that I’m going to kill him,” according to court documents.