Alleged Planned Parenthood shooter could be forcibly medicated, appeals court rules

An appeals court has upheld a federal district judge's decision to force Robert Dear to take psychiatric medication — an attempt to restore the suspected 2015 Planned Parenthood shooter in Colorado Springs to sufficient mental capacity to stand trial.

It's the latest step in a nearly decade-long series of pretrial legal wrangling over the man accused of killing three people and injuring eight others.

Dear was diagnosed with delusional disorder, which led to repeated discoveries of his inability to participate in his own defense. The disorder is often treated with antipsychotic medications.

In September 2022, federal Judge Robert E. Blackburn ruled that Dear could involuntarily receive medication after prison psychologists testified that the medication could allow him to understand the charges against him. At the time, Dear opposed the forced medication, saying he had a heart attack as a side effect while being treated in Pueblo.

Dear's lawyers appealed the 2022 ruling, but the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday upheld Blackburn's ruling, finding that the district court provided sufficient evidence of possible effectiveness of Dear's forced medication.

“We do not have the 'final and firm belief that the district court erred' in determining that the involuntary medication was likely to restore Dear's capacity,” Circuit Judge Nancy Moritz wrote in the ruling. Monday.

Defense attorneys have not yet indicated whether they will attempt the difficult route of appealing the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court or requesting a rehearing of the case.

Dear faces 68 federal and 179 state charges stemming from the Nov. 27, 2015, attack, in which Dear was allegedly armed with a dozen firearms and more than 500 cartridges. Documents indicate Dear wanted to “wage war” on Planned Parenthood of Colorado Springs over its provision of abortion services.

Federal prosecutors have said they will not seek the death penalty against Dear.

Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa — the 24-year-old defendant in the 2021 Boulder King Soopers shooting — was found competent to stand trial last summer after he was forcibly medicated at a Pueblo facility. Alissa's trial is scheduled for September, where he has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.