Attempted murder suspect could be released if not admitted to state hospital

A Whitstran man accused of attempted murder in June is suffering from schizophrenia, hears voices and has delusions.

But he has refused all mental health treatment for 5 1/2 months while in solitary confinement in the Benton County jail.

That means he’s still not competent enough to face the charges, say court officials.

However, an administrator with a state psychiatric hospital told a Benton County judge Tuesday they have no room for Lucio Reyes Perez.

Now the judge is threatening to release Perez next week if the state can’t soon treat him.

Superior Court Judge Bruce Spanner said during a Tuesday hearing that the state of Washington is violating Perez’s constitutional rights.

“The (Department of Social & Human Services) has chosen and decided that policy is more important than court orders,” he said.

Months ago, Spanner ordered the 66-year-old man be sent to Eastern State Hospital in Medical Lake for mental health treatment so the case could proceed.

When state hospital officials failed to pick Perez up, placing him instead on a long waiting list, Spanner issued another order in mid-October for hospital officials to pick him up within seven days.

But the attempted first-degree murder suspect is remains in the Benton County jail, where he stays alone in a cell 23 hours a day because of some medical issues. Problems with his knees have confined him to a wheelchair.

“I guarantee you that in a week or two I’m going to be asked to dismiss (Perez’s) case or release him on his own recognizance,” Spanner told Randall Strandquist, director of psychology at the state hospital. “Do you acknowledge you’ve put me in a tough situation?”

Strandquist said he considers Perez a danger to the public based on his knowledge of the case but he can’t move him up on the waiting list.

“I’m not short on willingness. I’m short on ability,” he said.

While strides have been made to increase capacity at the 30-bed state hospital, it will still be weeks before Perez, currently No. 11 on the waiting list of 35, can be admitted, Strandquist said.

Perez’s attorney Alexandria Sheridan argued a lack of resources is not a defense for the violation of his rights. If the state fails to treat her client, she said she will file a motion to throw out the case.

“The issue is whether he’s receiving services as part of due process,” she said.

Perez was arrested June 19 after allegedly waiting outside a market near Prosser for Guillermo Salas-Lozano, 34. Perez shot at him twice with a .22-caliber handgun, hitting him in the neck.

Perez later told Benton County Sheriff’s deputies he was angry with Salas-Lozano and plotted to kill him for two months.

Lt. Josh Shelton, a corrections officer who oversees medical and mental health issues at the jail, said Perez has not had behavior problems.

However, Perez has displayed enough symptoms that he is monitored weekly by mental health professionals but he has declined to take any medications, he said.

Eastern and Western state psychiatric hospitals are trying to ramp up services to comply with a court ruling for speedier mental health evaluations and treatment.

In addition to the 35 people awaiting beds at Eastern State Hospital, there are nearly 150 people either out of custody or in county jails awaiting evaluations by the state hospital’s 10 evaluators.

Another 15 beds are expected to open at Eastern in the coming weeks, with another 15 sometime after Jan. 1.

And 30-bed facility is projected to open up at the Yakima County jail in the spring to treat people so they can proceed with their criminal cases.

Spanner noted there is a DSHS policy that says no patient should be admitted ahead of their position on the list despite a court potentially finding the state hospital in contempt.

Strandquist was reluctant to say if Perez should be admitted over the other people ahead of him on the list.

“Public safety would have to be the priority,” Strandquist said. “I don’t know if I have the authority to make that decision.”

Allowing Perez to be moved ahead on the list would create a precedent that would be difficult to uphold, he said.

Assistant Attorney General Andrea Utigard said the state is not yet outside the court-ordered timeframe to comply with quicker mental health evaluations and treatment.

She added that the Legislature has passed a law prohibiting criminal cases from being dismissed for lack of mental health services but Sheridan criticized that argument.

“The Legislature cannot wave a magic pen and say we don’t want to enforce these constitutional rights because we don’t want to fund them,” Sheridan said.

Benton County Deputy Prosecutor Megan Whitmire told Spanner she has frequently tried to have Perez taken to Eastern State for treatment but has been rebuffed.

She’s also been told that the county’s designated mental health professional said Perez does not meet the criteria to be civilly committed to a facility.

Spanner said he appreciated Eastern’s efforts to better provide services.

He also said that Perez looked better than previous reports indicated but that doesn’t absolve the state of its duty to Perez and the public.

“I want to get (DSHS) in the public safety business,” Spanner said.

This story was originally published December 1, 2015 at 1:14 PM with the headline "Attempted murder suspect could be released if not admitted to state hospital."