The Cascade County Attorney’s Office filed a motion April 21 asking the district court to allow the Cascade County Adult Detention Center to involuntarily medicate Jeremiah Gideon if needed, in the event that he is transferred back from the Montana State Hospital.

Gideon is facing attempted deliberate homicide and assault on a peace office charges from an Oct. 9 incident in which he hit a Montana Credit Union employee with his vehicle and during subsequent interviews, threatened investigators.

The case has highlighted significant delays at the Montana State Hospital in terms of mental health evaluations and treatment to restore Gideon, and others similarly situated, for fitness to proceed with their criminal cases.

About a week before the incident, Gideon had been arrested for assault, shortly after he’d been released from the state hospital after being civilly committed through the state’s legal process.

During his initial appearance on Oct. 10, District Court Judge Elizabeth Best ordered that Gideon be transported to the state hospital for a mental fitness evaluation to determine if he could stand trial.

Gideon’s defense is arguing that state statute requires the charges be dismissed if Gideon couldn’t be evaluated within 90 days.

District court judges have dismissed charges in a number of other criminal cases due to the delays at the Montana State Hospital and have expressed frustration with the delays during court hearings, which are open to the public, at feeling compelled to do so under the state statutes, to the point of ordering Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services officials appear in court to answer questions about the delays

During a Jan. 7 hearing, the 89th day after Best’s order, Gideon was 62 on the waitlist, according to Ball’s response, but Judge John Kutzman denied Gideon’s verbal motion to dismiss the case and asked that he file a written motion.

On Jan. 17, Michael Kuntz filed a motion to dismiss the charges against Gideon in that case.

In February, Ryan Ball, the county prosecutor filed a response to that motion, asking the court to deny dismissal.

In January, the county attorney’s office was able to retain a Missoula-based psychologist to evaluate Gideon and on Feb. 10, the county attorney’s office petitioned to civilly commit Gideon to the state hospital.

On Feb. 12, Gideon, through a friend and his attorney, agreed to the commitment and he’s been in the state hospital since mid-February.

In a previous case, the court dismissed criminal charges against Gideon to civilly commit him to the state hospital.

In this case, with an attempted deliberate homicide charge, the county attorney’s office is arguing against dismissing the charges while he’s civilly committed in the hopes of evaluating, treating and restoring Gideon to mental fitness to stand trial.

Ball argued in his response that the 90 day limit applies only if a report has been submitted that deems a defendant unfit to proceed.

Now, the state is asking that Gideon be transferred out of their facility and brought back to the Cascade County jail, prompting the new motion requesting that the county, through medical professionals at the jail, can involuntarily medicate Gideon if needed.

State hospital staff have determined that Gideon “has reached maximum benefit” and since he’s still facing a $500,000 bond in the current criminal case, would likely remain in the county jail through the criminal proceedings.

On April 18, the same Missoula-based psychologist evaluated Gideon at the state hospital and while a report wasn’t yet prepared, she told the county that Gideon was oriented to place and time and had an understanding of the charges he was facing, as well as the legal process, according to Ball’s April 21 motion.

The psychologist told officials that Gideon is “still subject to delusional thinking and he firmly believes that this case will be dismissed. However, it is unknown what basis that belief is based upon, and defendant may believe that based upon his past experiences with the mental health and legal system. [The psychologist] was adamant that the defendant needs lifelong medication and in order to lessen the risk of assaultive behavior, the medication should be given involuntarily if necessary,” according to the Ball’s motion.

Ball argues that the jail officials have an obligation to provide basic care for inmates, as well as ensure safety of staff and inmates.

Since attempted deliberate homicide is a capital offense, as under Montana law, it is punishable by death, the court may impost “any condition that will reasonably ensure the appearance of the defendant as required or that will ensure the safety of any person or the community,” according to the motion.

“In this case, the state is asking the court to order that [Gideon] continue to take his prescribed medication to ensure [Gideon] remains fit, appears at all hearing in a competent fashion and, most importantly, ensures the safety of [Gideon], those around him and the community as a whole,” Ball wrote.

The county attorney’s office is arguing that the Constitutional due process clause protects inmates from unnecessary or inhumane treatment, which could be considered restraints or medications, but that it also allows the state to treat a pretrial detainee with a serious mental illness with antipsychotic drugs involuntarily if he is dangerous to himself or others and the treatment is in his medical interest, according to the court document.

“In this case, as shown throughout [Gideon’s] criminal history and in the most recent actions criminally and civilly, [he] has shown that if he refuses to voluntarily be medicated, he is dangerous to himself and others. According to multiple medical providers, medication of the Defendant is in his medical interests,” according to Ball’s motion. “[Gideon] has been prescribed medications to treat his mental disorders. [Gideon] has a well-documented history of violence when unmedicated. There is also a history of the state administering involuntary medications to [Gideon] when he stops taking his medication, decompensates, and then becomes a danger to himself or others. [Gideon] also has a history of receiving medication involuntarily, regaining fitness, and then upon release, ceasing medications and returning to behaviors where he becomes a danger to himself or others,” Ball wrote.

The county is essentially arguing to allow medical providers at the county jail to be able to involuntarily medicate Gideon if he is transferred from the state hospital to ensure he is fit to proceed and then move through his criminal trial on the deliberate attempted homicide and assault on an officer charges.

A jury could find Gideon guilty by way of mental illness, which would allow a court to sentence him to the care of the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services, through the state hospital.

The district court judge will likely allow Gideon’s defense attorney the standard two weeks to respond to the motion on involuntary medication and a hearing would be required if the judge chooses to hear arguments.

Judge John Kutzman is assigned to the case.

Gideon’s defense attorney, Kuntz, filed a new motion to dismiss the case on April 14, again arguing that the 90 days to restore Gideon to fitness for trial had passed.

Late last year, the tension over the backlog at the Montana State Hospital and its impact to local criminal cases bubbled to the Montana Supreme Court after Judge John Parker ordered the DPHHS director to appear in court and address the backlog. 

DPHHS protested and Parker allowed a representative of DPHHS to appear, but a number of documents were filed at the state level.

In a response to DPHHS’ request for a writ of supervisory control at the Montana Supreme Court, the Cascade County Attorney’s office listed multiple cases that have been delayed or dismissed due to delays in admission at the state hospital:

• State of Montana v. Logan Severson, found unfit to proceed Sept. 18, 2024 and awaiting admission to the hospital. Delay is 104 days as of Jan. 3.
• State of Montana v. Justania Javene Windyboy, found unfit to proceed June 11, 2024. Delay is 203 days as of Jan. 3.
• State of Montana v. Gregory Andrew LaPlant, found unfit to proceed June 6, 2024. Delay is 208 days as of Jan. 3.
• State of Montana v. Michael Joseph George, found unfit to proceed July 30, 2024. Delay is 154 days as of Jan. 3.
• State of Montana v. Gregory Andrew LaPlant, found unfit Aug. 5, 2024. Delay is 148 days as of Jan. 3.
• State of Montana v. Jeremiah Gideon, found unfit Oct. 10, 2024. Delay is 87 days as of Jan. 3.

The county attorney’s office listed the cases in its response that have been dismissed due to delays in admission to the state hospital:

• State of Montana v. Shyla Hanway, found unfit on Oct. 20, 2020, based upon a diagnosis of disorganized schizophrenia and the district court dismissed the proceedings with prejudice on March 9, 2021. The delay in the case was 140 days.
• State of Montana v. Shyla Hanway, found unfit on Aug. 31, 2021 and dismissed without prejudice on Nov. 24, 2021. Despite being transferred to the Montana State Hospital, Hanway was not made fit within a reasonable period of time. The delay was 85 days.
• State of Montana v. Shyla Hanway, found unfit on April 13, 2022 and dismissed with prejudice on Dec. 30, 2022. The delay was 251 days.
• State of Montana v. Daniel Joseph Hartzell, found unfit on June 22, 2021 and dismissed without prejudice on Sept. 28, 2021. The delay was 98 days.
• State of Montana v. Timothy Jay Fowler, Jr., found unfit on Aug. 31, 2023, the transport was not done prior to a fitness hearing on Nov. 15, 2023, and Fowler remained 20 on the list. Dismissed in April 2024. Delay in transport to MSH was at least 76 days.
• State of Montana v. Paula Yvette Gopher-Arocha. Gopher-Arocha allegedly violated probation and a petition to revoke was filed.  Gopher-Arocha filed a motion to find her unfit and the court heard testimony from two different evaluators. The court found her unfit and ordered her transported to the state hospital on Sept. 11, 2024. The district court dismissed the proceedings on Dec. 10, 2024, with prejudice based upon the delay in transporting her, finding that the delay violated her rights. She was transported to the state hospital on Nov. 19, 2024 on a Toole County case a week after an unfit finding in that court. The delay in transport in the Cascade County case was 89 days.
• State of Montana v. Christopher Rolfs, found unfit and ordered transport to the state hospital on May 17, 2024. There was a possibility of him being made fit within a reasonable period of time, but he was not transported to MSH as ordered and the district court dismissed the proceedings on Aug. 15, 2024. The delay was 90 days without Rolfs being transported.

“Parker has attempted in other proceedings to obtain a commitment from [DPHHS} to remedy the ongoing crisis at the Montana State Hospital, without success as evidenced by these proceedings,” the county wrote in its response to the Montana Supreme Court.