Planned Parenthood alleged killer is delusional, experts say

COLORADO SPRINGS -- The man who admits to killing three people during a November attack on a Planned Parenthood clinic here is delusional and incompetent, two state forensic evaluators say.

A judge must now decide whether Robert Dear will stand trial or be indefinitely confined to a state mental hospital. Dear admits to the gun attack that killed police officer Garrett Swasey, a father of two, Army veteran Ke'Arre Stewart, a father of two, and Jennifer Markovsky, a mother of two. None of the three worked for Planned Parenthood. Nine other people were injured in the Nov. 27 attack.

Dear has called abortion "Satanic sacrifice" and told police he believes the souls of babies will greet him in Heaven with thanks for attacking the clinic and temporarily halting abortions.

"Judgment is getting ready to fall on America for 100 million babies," Dear said loudly as he entered court Thursday.

Dear disagrees that he's incompetent, and repeatedly interrupted the court hearing to interject and "get the record straight." Dear initially wanted to plead guilty to the attack but apparently balked when prosecutors filed 179 charges, including first-degree murder, for which he could be executed.

Dear is trying to fire his public defenders, and Judge Gilbert Martinez must rule whether he is competent enough to do so. Two state doctors say he's not.

Thursday's hearing occasionally took on a circus-like atmosphere due to Dear's repeated interruptions, as one of the psychologist who examined him testified Dear suffers from delusions that the FBI has persecuted him for 20 years. Two state doctors interviewed Dear and concluded he's incompetent.

"I do not believe Mr. Dear is competent to stand trial," testified Jackie Grinnett, one of the two state psychologists. "I do not believe that Mr. Dear is in the best position (to understand his delusions) because he doesn't believe he has any."

Dear told police he believes federal agents follow him everywhere due to his belief that President Obama is the Antichrist. Dear also told police that he thought a janitor was going to stab him with a mop, and that the FBI enlisted his neighbors to spy on him.

A police detective testified Thursday that Dear repeatedly urinated in a water bottle or garbage can during a seven-hour interrogation session following the attack. Prosecutors, who appear to be contesting the conclusion that Dear is incompetent, pointed out he lived in an off-the-grid trailer with no plumbing, and that he was accustomed to using a bottle to urinate.

Dear said being ruled incompetent is an excuse to silence his message and confine him to a "nuthouse." He says the FBI would never admit to sneaking into his house and cutting holes in his clothes, which be believes has happened.

Dear insists he can represent himself effectively, and said he mistrusts lawyers, who he believes are conspiring against him because they're paid by the same taxpayers as the judge and prosecutors.

"It's my life on the line," he interjected at one point. "Wake up people. Of course they lie. They don't want to admit anything."

The hearing will resume in May with testimony from the second state psychologist.