They say the law needs to change to get people the help they need before the consequences become dire.
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) – The case of a Redmond man convicted of murder “other than insanity” in the May 2022 murder of a Cloverdale woman puts another sad spotlight on the challenges of mental illness. ing.
Alexander Smith's family has described the frustrating months he spent trying to get the help he needed, but the mental health professionals who treated him in prison say it was sadly an avoidable tragedy. Told.
Smith had been released from the Deschutes County Jail hours before he strangled Tina Cline-Lewis, 55, who was working in a hop field across the street from the Cloverdale Fire Department where he had gone to get food. .
Mr. Smith was sentenced Thursday to life in prison by the state Psychiatric Review Board at the conclusion of a two-day “stipulated facts” trial.
During a psychiatric evaluation, Smith said he heard a powerful voice telling him he had to kill someone.
In the intervening months, Smith's parents tried to get him help after seeing his declining and unstable mental state. However, Mr. Smith did not meet the criteria for intervention or involuntary institutionalization, and he was told that he would not seek treatment on his own.
“We tried for months to get help for Alex,” Smith's stepfather, Michael Moorman, said Friday. “We were told by the mental health (agency), 'Just keep calling the police.' Eventually they'll be able to pick him up.” Redmond police got involved multiple times. did. And they told us they couldn't take him because of mental restraint. ”
Despite his erratic behavior, which was later described as psychotic and schizophrenic, Smith never expressed a specific plan to harm anyone, as state law requires the involuntary involvement of an adult. It wasn't.
Moorman detailed his family's efforts to NewsChannel 21 when we spoke to him days after his son-in-law's arrest.
A social worker who works as a behavioral health specialist at the prison and treated Smith during his murder arrest says the system has failed him.
“County mental health systems, jails and law enforcement can identify potentially threatening individuals,” Leslie Neusteter said. “But unless that person admits that they have violent thoughts, that they have plans to kill someone, that they have imminent plans, their hands are tied.”
On the morning of the murder, Smith had been released from the county jail where he was being held on unrelated theft and trespassing charges.
“He was in jail. They couldn't hold him,” he testified as a defense witness at Thursday's sentencing, adding that mass shootings are “absolutely preventable” if community members learn the warning signs. said Neustadter, who founded a group called “See the Sign,'' which claims to be. Learn what to report and intervene early.
“Our current laws don't allow the system to involuntarily violate someone unless they pose an immediate threat. And that's what needs to change.”
After taking antipsychotic medication for a few weeks, Smith became a different person, she said. She said Smith was suffering from paranoid psychosis at the time of her murder, but that medication she later received subsided her symptoms.
“I've worked with people with schizophrenia and they were really scary people, threatening to kill me, threaten to kill my children,” she said. “Two weeks later, after an antipsychotic injection, which is a first for me, it's almost miraculous. Kind, intelligent, funny people.”
