Teen awaits mental health treatment as Duluth homicide case lingers

DULUTH — The attorney for a teen accused of fatally shooting a man in Central Hillside last year said his client’s constitutional rights are being violated as he continues to be held in a juvenile detention center instead of a state hospital.

Patrick Wilson Battees Jr., 18, was declared incompetent to stand trial in October on murder charges stemming from the May slaying of 22-year-old Juamada Keller Anderson Jr..

Battees was then civilly committed to the Minnesota Department of Human Services in November. He but he remained at Arrowhead Juvenile Center in Duluth, as local officials said he had not been considered a priority to get into Anoka Metro Regional Treatment Center.

“Patrick’s continued confinement at AJC as a result of the commissioner’s failure to place him in a DHS facility or provide him with required treatment services constitutes a continuing violation of his protected liberty interests under the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment,” the defense attorney said. JD Schmid wrote in a motion filed Thursday.

Schmid has asked a judge to consider ordering agency officials to show why Battees has not yet been placed in a treatment facility or provided the services he needs to regain his competence.

The court previously found that Battees “presents a risk of harm due to mental illness” as he suffers from “clinical malingering presentation, antisocial personality disorder, PTSD, severe amphetamine use disorder, severe alcohol use disorder ( and) moderate consumption of cannabis”. disorder.”

Although he has been designated for treatment at the Twin Cities psychiatric hospital, AJC director Becky Pogatchnik recently told the court that the facility “is nowhere near offering Patrick a bed” due to restrictions on COVID-19 intake and a priority for adult criminal defendants.

Battees has been meeting with psychiatrists at the Center for Human Development and receiving recommended medications at AJC, Pogatchnik said.

But Schmid noted that two court-appointed psychologists who examined Battees last year determined he should undergo more specialized services, including neuropsychological testing and brain imaging to assess for possible traumatic brain injuries.

At a hearing Monday, St. Louis County social worker Sheri Simmons told Judge Eric Hylden that she has access to the Department of Human Services’ restoration curriculum and would be willing to spend two days a week working with the Battees at AJC.

Simmons said the two-phase program is intended to provide guidance on the legal process, the role and responsibility of the court, and general information and examples of the possible consequences of a conviction.

St. Louis County Assistant District Attorney Korey Horn called it a “creative solution” to ensure Battees receives some restorative services while awaiting further treatment at a state facility.

“I agree with Mr. Schmid’s statement about the frustrations of everyone involved,” Horn said. “But I understand that the agency (Arrowhead Regional Corrections) has done an excellent job of making sure that Mr. Battees remains stable.”

Schmid also told Hylden that he has identified a doctor who could provide neuropsychological services to Battees, provided the court orders the state to pay for the services rather than place him in Anoka.

Hylden scheduled another hearing for next Monday to consider the defense’s motion to demand a response from the Department of Human Services.

Battees, who was 17 at the time of Anderson’s shooting, is charged in juvenile court with intentional and unintentional second-degree murder and reckless discharge of a firearm within a township.

Authorities said Battees was chatting with Anderson on the porch of an apartment building at 118 E. Third St. on May 22, just before two other men arrived at the scene and confronted the teen about his alleged involvement in a shooting. previous.

A fight broke out and he moved to the sidewalk before Battees allegedly pulled out a pistol and shot Anderson. Authorities said he fled the scene, hiding the gun in a discarded couch, before being arrested downtown.

A total of five people have been charged in connection with the incident, four of whom are alleged to have fired shots amid the chaotic scene. Two have pleaded guilty to date.

Prosecutors are seeking to have Battees certified to stand trial as a result, but that process cannot be resumed until he is deemed capable of understanding the process and participating in his own defense.