From: Tilman Hausherr <tilman@berlin.snafu.de>
Subject: fwd: JUDGE ALLOWS CRIMINAL TRIAL FOR MAN RULED TOO MENTALLY ILL TO BE RELEASED
Date: Fri, 09 May 2003 22:16:14 +0200
Organization: Old Europe
Message-ID: <eq2obv46h0p6gc9j0noqafq9iqdir1p6n8@4ax.com>

JUDGE ALLOWS CRIMINAL TRIAL FOR MAN RULED TOO MENTALLY ILL TO BE RELEASED

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch 7.3.2003

By Terry Hillig

Rodney Yoder will be tried on charges that he attacked a fellow resident at the Chester Mental Health Center in 2000, a judge ruled Tuesday.

The judge ruled after a hearing Tuesday in Chester, Ill., that Randolph County Assistant State's Attorney Michael Burke had presented sufficient evidence to try Yoder on charges of attempted murder, aggravated battery and unlawful possession of weapons by a felon.

Yoder, 44, has been held involuntarily by the Illinois Department of Human Services since he completed a prison term for hitting his ex-wife in 1991. State officials claimed and juries repeatedly agreed that Yoder was mentally ill and a threat to himself and others and should remain in custody.

Yoder adamantly disputes those claims and argues that prosecutors and mental health officials are unfairly detaining him.

Until about a month ago, he was held at the maximum-security Chester Mental Health Center. In April, Yoder was transferred to the lower-security Elgin Mental Health Center in northern Illinois because, a spokesman for the Department of Human Services said, he no longer required a maximum-security setting.

Less than a week after the transfer and just a few days within a three-year statute of limitations window, the new charges were filed in Randolph County.

Brian Thomas, an administrator at the Chester facility, testified Tuesday that Yoder attacked fellow resident Antoine Mitchell on April 26, 2000, with a sock containing batteries.

Thomas said Yoder approached Mitchell from the rear and struck him three or four times on the head. While being restrained by staff members, Yoder said he wanted to kill Mitchell, Thomas testified.

When cross-examined by Yoder's attorney, Randy Kretchmar, Thomas said he had no direct knowledge of the incident but only knew of it through conversations and written reports.

Burke, the state's attorney, argued that the evidence established probable cause to believe Yoder had committed the offenses, but Kretchmar said it was all hearsay about an incident of a type that is routine in the mental health facility.

Kretchmar said fights among residents are commonplace and that they virtually never result in criminal charges. He said Yoder wouldn't be charged except for "delusional fanaticism" or irrational hostility toward Yoder. Kretchmar said the prosecution is an abuse of prosecutorial power.

Circuit Judge Dennis B. Doyle ordered Yoder held for trial, saying that hearsay evidence is admissible in a preliminary hearing. Doyle also turned down Yoder's motion to set bail, so he would be eligible for release pending trial if he happens to be discharged by the Department of Human Services.

Burke said Yoder's previous two aggravated battery convictions, the alleged attack on Mitchell, threats to harm numerous people and expert testimony that he is dangerous all made him a poor candidate for bail.

Yoder has a tentative trial date in July.

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