Alleged Planned Parenthood shooter can be forced to take anti-psychotic medication, court rules

The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday that a man charged in the killings of three people at a Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood in 2015 can be forced to take anti-psychotic medicine in order to become competent to stand trial.

Robert Dear, 66, had previously been diagnosed with delusional disorder. The case has been in limbo for eight years after Dear was found incompetent to stand trial in 2016.

To determine whether a person is competent to stand trial, a court weighs whether the person “has sufficient present ability to consult with his lawyer with a reasonable degree of rational understanding—and whether he has a rational as well as factual understanding of the proceedings against him.” The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the right for a defendant to have a competency evaluation before going to trial in the landmark case Dusky v. United States, 362 U.S. 402.

Read more: ABC 7 Denver