Sadly, Just Another Monday
Mount Holly, New Jersey – April 23, 2008
A Superior Court judge ruled yesterday that a man accused of smothering his mother to death in 2004 is not competent to stand trial because of his mental illness.
Two psychiatrists testified that Wiley M. Smith does not want to use an insanity defense because he would rather go to jail than stay in the psychiatric hospital. He also denies that he is mentally ill, the doctors said.
Both doctors, however, said Smith suffers from severe and persistent mental illness, specifically paranoid schizophrenia. However, with medication and other treatment he has made marked improvement during his time at the hospital, they said.
Seattle, Washington – April 23, 2008
A second man was arrested in the beating death of Noel Richard Lopez at a downtown construction site.
According to court filings, Lopez annoyed the arrested man's friends, so he and another man took Lopez to the construction site to "handle this problem and straighten him out." Investigators wrote that the pair knocked Lopez unconscious in a beating that lasted for hours.
Friends reported that Lopez was bipolar and was turned away when they sought help for him at two local hospitals.
Escondido, California – April 23, 2008
The North County Times reported that a mentally ill man who screamed "God bless America" and dived off a top bunk in a Vista jail cell has filed a $15 million lawsuit. The fall broke Henry Kodimer’s neck, leaving him quadriplegic. Kodimer’s attorney contends that various governmental authorities should have steered his client toward treatment, not jail.
Kodimer has suffered from paranoid schizophrenia for most of his life.
A Superior Court judge ruled yesterday that a man accused of smothering his mother to death in 2004 is not competent to stand trial because of his mental illness.
Two psychiatrists testified that Wiley M. Smith does not want to use an insanity defense because he would rather go to jail than stay in the psychiatric hospital. He also denies that he is mentally ill, the doctors said.
Both doctors, however, said Smith suffers from severe and persistent mental illness, specifically paranoid schizophrenia. However, with medication and other treatment he has made marked improvement during his time at the hospital, they said.
Seattle, Washington – April 23, 2008
A second man was arrested in the beating death of Noel Richard Lopez at a downtown construction site.
According to court filings, Lopez annoyed the arrested man's friends, so he and another man took Lopez to the construction site to "handle this problem and straighten him out." Investigators wrote that the pair knocked Lopez unconscious in a beating that lasted for hours.
Friends reported that Lopez was bipolar and was turned away when they sought help for him at two local hospitals.
Escondido, California – April 23, 2008
The North County Times reported that a mentally ill man who screamed "God bless America" and dived off a top bunk in a Vista jail cell has filed a $15 million lawsuit. The fall broke Henry Kodimer’s neck, leaving him quadriplegic. Kodimer’s attorney contends that various governmental authorities should have steered his client toward treatment, not jail.
Kodimer has suffered from paranoid schizophrenia for most of his life.
posted by Treatment Advocacy Center at 2:16 PM
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