The United States Supreme Court on Monday decided it would not consider an appeal from Robert Dear, who is accused of killing three people and wounding nine at a Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood clinic in 2015.
With the court’s rejection of Dear’s petition for a review, the long-running fight over Dear’s competency to stand trial will move forward. The appeal was over whether the state can require Dear to take psychiatric medication so he can participate in his defense.
The court’s denial means that the state may forcibly medicate Dear so that he can stand trial.
A federal judge ruled in September 2022 that Dear could be forcibly medicated due to a delusional disorder diagnosis. The ruling was intended to ensure Dear understands the charges against him. Dear has repeatedly insisted on representing himself at trial, yet has been found mentally unfit to do so.
An appeals court upheld that decision in June 2024, but the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals granted Dear’s attorneys a temporary hold while they appealed his case to the Supreme Court. They filed that request in December.
John Suthers — former Colorado U.S. Attorney, state attorney general and mayor of Colorado Springs — told CPR News in October 2024 that “very few” such petitions end up being accepted by the Supreme Court. Suthers said this so-called interlocutory appeal is the defense’s attempt to create a case within a case regarding Dear since it questions the legality of requiring him to take psychiatric medication.
Still, it had to be resolved before a court can determine whether Dear is competent to finally stand trial in the nearly 9-year-old case.
He is accused of entering the Colorado Springs clinic on Nov. 27, 2015 with multiple firearms and shooting people both inside and outside the building.
Ke'Arre M. Stewart, Jennifer Markovsky and Garrett Swasey, a Colorado Springs police officer, were killed during the attack. Five other officers and four civilians were also hurt during the five-hour standoff between police and the alleged shooter.
CPR reporters Dan Boyce and Allison Sherry contributed to this report.
