![]() When pressed about the voices, Montwheeler “became quite angry at this evaluator,” the report says.Ĭhoi catalogued Montwheeler’s previous diagnoses by state doctors. Montwheeler, Choi wrote, “provided highly inconsistent accounts” of those voices and when they started. He cast doubt on Montwheeler’s claim that he was hearing voices, noting that he told the review board in 2016 that he had lied about having such hallucinations. Choi wrote that he had based his conclusion on a six-hour interview of Montwheeler in September 2017 and thousands of pages of mental health and legal records.Ĭhoi found that Montwheeler had “attempted to exaggerate impairment for the purpose of a favorable outcome,” presumably so he would be sent to the hospital. ![]() ![]() ![]() The report concluded that Montwheeler needed hospital care before he could assist in his own defense. It was kept confidential until last week, when Ryan ordered it disclosed at the request of the Enterprise. Octavio Choi, a board-certified forensic psychiatrist and director of the Oregon State Hospital’s Forensic Evaluation Service, prepared a 37-page report on Montwheeler’s mental state and sent it to the court in January 2018. The recent court hearings on the Montwheeler case cast new light on the complexities of that challenge.ĭr. The five-member panel appointed by the governor supervises about 600 people deemed not guilty because of insanity who are sent for treatment instead of prison.Įither I can go to prison or I could … go to the hospital for six months, and all I got to do is make myself sound like I’m crazy. The state board has since said it had no information on the recidivism of discharged clients. Kate Brown of Oregon stepped in to order the records released and the lawsuit dropped. The Oregon Psychiatric Security Review Board, which had supervised Montwheeler for 19 years, sued the newspaper to block the release of public documents regarding his time under state supervision as public pressure built for explanations about why the man was free. The case drew national attention last year after the Enterprise reported on Montwheeler’s claims of faking his illness, his subsequent release and the alleged attacks in January 2017. Harmon said she is frustrated with the repeated delays that have pushed a trial to late 2019. “He lied to the state to get out of the hospital, and now he’s lying to get out of murder,” said Susan Harmon, the mother of Montwheeler’s ex-wife Annita. Ryan’s decision angered many in this rural farming community who had hoped to see Montwheeler held criminally accountable for his actions. The ruling by Circuit Court Judge Thomas Ryan came after a state doctor who had examined Montwheeler testified that while he continues to exaggerate his condition, he is suffering from sufficiently serious “adjustment disorder” to prevent him from effectively participating in his own defense. Harmon was a mother of two children Bates was a father of five. Authorities say Montwheeler swerved into the oncoming lane and collided head-on with an SUV, killing David Bates and seriously injuring his wife, Jessica. A clerk who witnessed the attack called the police, who then chased Montwheeler’s pickup truck down Oregon Highway 201. 9, 2017, prosecutors charge, Montwheeler kidnapped Annita Harmon, one of his ex-wives, and stabbed her to death at a gas station.
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