Tri-Cities man wants out of a WA psychiatric ward. Last time, he killed his grandmother

Adam Williams wants to leave state custody nearly a decade after he killed his grandmother at the direction of God.

The 39-year-old Tri-Cities man is asking to be released from Eastern State Hospital, claiming that he will not be a threat to other people.

“I am innocent,” he wrote. “Demons and devils have been rapping (sic) my mind for a long time. Like years. I am just now getting them to leave. I will not assault anybody unless I am being assaulted.”

Now, a judge will get to decide whether it’s safe to release Williams, who has spent much of his adult life being treated for schizophrenia, depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and substance abuse.

Williams is serving up to a life sentence in the psychiatric hospital near Spokane, Wash., after being declared innocent by reason of insanity for the murder of 87-year-old Viola Williams in 2012.

The West Richland man believed God was directing him to kill her. In his world, characters from a 1981 action move assured him that he could do it, according to a report by state mental health officials at the time.

He had been released 10 months earlier from another stint at Eastern State Hospital.

William appeared recently by video in Benton County Superior Court after he asked to represent himself as part of his motion to be released.

The hearing came after Prosecutor Andy Miller received a copy of Williams’ request and noticed that he asked to represent himself.

Miller wanted the judge to run through a series of questions that would determine if he understood the legal process well enough to represent himself.

Williams finally agreed to be represented by a public defense attorney.

Prosecutors can ask Eastern State Hospital to evaluate Williams and make a recommendation to the court.

Administrative Director Dennis Wetzler said that the hospital has started the process to determine whether the staff believe he should be released.

His Last Release

Since an early age, Williams struggled with various mental illnesses. After a series of crimes when he was a teen, he sent to Eastern after an assault.

After five years of treatment, mental health professionals and judges released him to the Program of Assertive Community Treatment.

The program is aimed at helping people with severe mental health disorders who frequently need care in a psychiatric hospital or other crisis service.

The team of people monitoring him included a psychiatrist, a chemical dependency specialist and a person to help him find work.

He began missing appointments as soon as he returned to the Tri-Cities, and it wasn’t long after that he began failing to get his medications refilled, according to court documents.

In July 2011, he disappeared for three weeks before calling his parents. They picked him up and took him to Kadlec Regional Medical Center in Richland.

A Benton County Crisis Response Unit employee evaluated Williams but decided he wasn’t a threat to himself or others.

For a while after his release, Williams’ condition improved, but that was short-lived, and he started having more problems in November 2011 , according to court documents.

He reportedly told a nurse, “at times he believes that he can read people’s minds, and ... that he was Jesus Christ in the past.”

By early January 2012, he was sexually aggressive with staff and by mid-January he was “disheveled, poor complexion, appeared agitated, gave very little eye contact and would not respond much to questions” during a meeting with a state counselor from the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, according to court documents.

Lourdes employees asked that he be evaluated by the crisis response unit, which could determine whether he should be sent back to Eastern State.

A snowstorm canceled the appointment, and within days of his next appointment he killed his grandmother.

Current condition

Since he returned to Eastern State Hospital, evaluators have filed regular reports about his condition.

While they don’t make recommendations about whether he should be released, they do offer some opinions about his current state.

“Mr. Williams has made little gains in mitigating his risk for future violent and/or aggressive behavior against others,” according to a May 2022 report filed by Troy Saggau, a psychiatric social worker, and Dr. Greg Bahder, a psychiatrist.

They reported he was still showing symptoms of mental illness similar to what he was experiencing when he killed his grandmother.

At times, he has poor impulse control and an inability to regulate his emotions.

“In this reporting period, Mr. Williams had to return from the treatment mall due to increased agitation and anxiety from a voice he calls ‘the devil’ trying to disguise himself as God,” they wrote. “Mr. Williams periodically talks about finding God, but also believes the devil is trying to deceive him, turn him against God and make him do violent things.”

Most of William’s three-page motion is a pre-filled out form with boxes for someone to check.

He was allowed to fill out a paragraph of text to explain why he should be released.

He claimed that he wouldn’t assault anyone and that in the last 10 years he has learned everything he needs to so he could live in the community.

“I believe I’ve learned and paid the price for my bad behavior,” he wrote. “I’m said and sorry for my mistakes. I believe I should have a conditional release in some form.”

This story was originally published November 7, 2022 at 5:00 AM.