Planned Parenthood Attack: Suspect Robert Dear Interrupts Judge
DENVER (CBS4/AP) — There were more outbursts in court on Friday from the man accused of killing three people in an attack on Planned Parenthood in Colorado Springs in November 2015. Robert Dear was advised in court that he faces the possibility of the death penalty on federal charges.
Dear interrupted the magistrate judge numerous times to claim he is competent to stand trial. Dear was previously ruled to be incompetent to stand trial in state court.
Prosecutors say Dear held police at bay for more than five hours during the November 2015 attack in Colorado Springs.
A police officer from the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, and two people who were accompanying friends to the clinic separately were killed. Nine others were injured.
Dear, 61, has previously declared in courtroom outbursts that he is guilty and called himself a "warrior for babies." He faces 179 charges in state court, including murder and attempted murder, but that case has languished since he was deemed incompetent to stand trial in 2016. His mental health status has been reviewed every 90 days without change.
Prosecutors are asking for a new competency hearing for Dear. The defense is opposing that request.
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