Accused Penske killer cannot be forced to take anti-psychotic meds

Two months later, two state doctors reported Warren was not competent to stand trial so Staley ordered Warren into state custody to be observed, evaluated and treated.

Prosecutors asked the court to order Warren involuntarily medicated in an attempt to make him mentally competent to stand trial. Staley issued an order on July 9, 2014.

For two years, Warren has been at either in Central State Hospital in Milledgeville or Georgia Regional Hospital in DeKalb County.Doctors first tried several different anti-psychotic drugs, but side effects led them to stop all medications.

Warren cannot be tried on charges he murdered four people until he is competent.

All the doctors agree that Jesse James Warren is too delusional to stand trial for allegedly walking into a Penske Truck Rental in Kennesaw nearly six years ago and murdering four people.

And, at least for now, he cannot be forcibly medicated to make him sane enough to help with his own defense in the death penalty case, meaning he cannot be tried, the Georgia Supreme Court said Monday.

The high state court ruled unanimously that Cobb County Superior Court Judge Mary Staley's order was not specific enough when she ruled doctors must force anti-psychotic medication on Warren. But the court said prosecutors could gain approval for doctors to give Warren medication against his will if they come back to the judge with a more detailed treatment plan — what medications he would be given, for how long and with what side effects.

For now, Warren is in a state hospital but is not being medicated. When doctors gave him anti-psychotic drugs before, it endangered his health, which was already compromised by high blood pressure, diabetes and a heart attack. They say in the controlled environment of the hospital, Warren is not confronted with his delusions and is not a danger. But that could change in a courtroom.

“It’s the first time this issue has been presented in Georgia. It is an issue that has only been presented rarely across the United States,” said Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington, D.C.

Don Geary, Chief Assistant District Attorney in Cobb County, said prosecutors would discuss Warren’s current condition with his doctors and try to develop a treatment plan that will meet the standard laid out in the Supreme Court’s decision before asking the judge to again order that Warren be medicated.

“I’m certain we can meet that burden,” Geary said.

The courts have ruled that a mentally ill person cannot be executed.

“It’s not that rare that you see defendants who have some degree of mental illness. But it is unusual that a defendant’s mental illness is so substantial that he is found by the court to be incompetent to stand trial,” Dunham said. “The defense doctor and the state’s doctors all agree that he was incompetent to stand trial. They all agreed he had a very serious mental illness, a very serious delusion, was not in touch with reality.

“He has a type of mental disorder that tends to be progressive and degenerative in nature, which is to say over time it will get worse (and) not improve,” Dunham said.

Warren, a mechanic, was first diagnosed as delusional in 2009 when Penske sent him to a psychiatrist. Warren had told a co-worker that “Penske was stealing money from him, that 500 lawyers would go to jail for computer hacking and that Penske was involved in computer hacking,” according to a report filed in the case.

According to the Aug. 29, 2005 report, Warren told a psychiatrist that churches and religions were trying to kill him. He had “grandiose delusions that he is the son of God, vague hallucinations of the Holy Spirit speaking to him and beliefs that thoughts were inserted into his mind and that his thoughts were being broadcast,” the report said.

Eventually, Penske fired him.

On Jan. 12, 2010, Warren — wearing camouflage clothing and armed with two guns — allegedly walked into the Penske Truck Rental on Barrett Lakes Boulevard near Kennesaw and started shooting.

Customer Jaider Felipe Marulanda, 43, and Penske employees, Van Springer, 59, and Roberto Gonzalez, 31, were shot dead. Zachariah Werner, 35, another Penske employee, was paralyzed and died three years later. Joshua Holbrook, Gonzalez’s brother-in-law, survived his wounds.

In interviews with police and doctors, Warren claimed he was an emperor and millions of dollars had been stolen from him. Warren told the doctors who examined him at the behest of the judge “he was awarded $500 million for his efforts to get a broadband communication project operational while he was in the Navy,” according to court records.

Warren isn’t competent to stand trial, said Jerry Word, one of the defense attorneys.

Doctors’ opinions differ, however, on the question of whether medication would tap down the delusions enough that he could assist his lawyers in his death penalty trial. The doctors for the state were optimistic that medication would help, while experts hired by Warren’s team say it’s rare that drugs will help anyone who has been delusional as long as Warren.

They also debated whether the anti-psychotic drugs would be dangerous to the 66 year old’s physical health.

“They’ve got to basically show that the benefits of the (anti-psychotic) medications outweigh the potential harm,” Word said.

Staley thought so. On July 9, 2014, she ruled doctors should give medications to Warren because there was “clear and convincing evidence there is an important governmental interest to bring this case to trial.” She turned down a request from Warren’s lawyers for a proposed treatment plan.

But the Georgia Supreme Court said Staley must now approve a medical plan before she orders forcible medication..

“The judge must become the scientist and determine … the degree to which the science supports the opinion (to forcibly medicate Warren),” Geary said.