The prosecution of a West Palm Beach man accused of making a bomb threat from inside a psychiatric unit is sparking a broader debate about how the justice system handles mental illness.Luke Cahill is charged with calling in a bomb threat last year that shut down the West Palm Beach Police Department and nearby roads for hours.Police later traced the call to Cahill, who was inside a locked psychiatric unit at JFK Hospital under a Baker Act at the time.Cahill’s attorney argues the case should never have been filed.“I’ve always thought this was a horse with a broken leg. That’s the State Attorney’s Office. Should have put down a long time ago,” defense attorney John Cleary said. “And because they’re not making any decisions, they did not use their discretion in this case. And this case is an absurdity that continues.”Cleary said doctors on scene had already diagnosed Cahill as psychotic and that prosecutors should have exercised discretion and declined to pursue felony charges.The State Attorney’s Office declined to comment.SHERIFF: MENTAL ILLNESS DOESN’T ERASE RESPONSIBILITYPalm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw says mental illness does not automatically erase criminal responsibility and that those decisions ultimately belong to a judge.“So the fact that it remains is that this person thought through it and made that call,” Bradshaw said. “So now it’s up to whoever is going to go in front of this judge to say, we think that you prosecuted or we should not. And let the judge make that decision.”Bradshaw said law enforcement’s role is to investigate and make arrests when probable cause exists. Whether someone is legally insane is decided in court.He also acknowledges the strain mental illness places on the system.JAIL COUNTY’S LARGEST MENTAL HEALTH PROVIDER“Yes. We treat about between three and 400 people a day with psychotropic drugs,” Bradshaw said. “We have a dedicated mental health ward, but it’s full all the time. So, it’s a lot.”Bradshaw said the Palm Beach County jail has effectively become the largest mental health provider in the county, a role he says it was never designed to serve.The tension between treatment and prosecution recently played out in the high-profile murder trial of Semmie Williams, who was convicted of second-degree murder in the stabbing death of 14-year-old Ryan Rogers in Palm Beach Gardens.BIZARRE COURTROOM BEHAVIORIn court, Williams displayed erratic behavior, fired attorneys and repeatedly interrupted proceedings.“I want to fire my lawyer, she lied to me!” Williams shouted during one outburst.Despite that behavior, he was ruled competent to stand trial.Bradshaw cautions against assuming that bizarre courtroom behavior equals legal insanity.“You got to be careful when you see people doing things like what he was doing,” Bradshaw said. “It’s easy. It’s easy to put that on. All right. So you can’t say, oh, because he’s jumpy or because he’s making some statements that are irrational, that makes him unfit to be there and he needs to go somewhere else.”Cleary views the Williams case as an example of a system that spends significant time and taxpayer money litigating mental health issues that could be addressed differently.“The state hired an expert and paid them, and they determined he wasn’t insane,” Cleary said. “And so he went to a full jury trial where he was absolutely insane and demonstrated his insanity to the jury and actually showed how crazy he was. And after all that work, they got a second-degree murder conviction, which I don’t know whether or not they thought that was worth all the efforts they put into it, because that could have been resolved without that.””JUSTICE SYSTEM NOT DESIGNED TO PUNISH THE INSANE”Both sides agree that mental illness is real. They disagree on how far it should shield someone from prosecution.“So it really depends on the severity of the issue that we’re talking about,” Bradshaw said.“This is a problem because our justice system is designed to punish the guilty, not the insane,” Cleary said.Cleary said he expects Cahill will ultimately be found not guilty by reason of insanity and placed in psychiatric care, something he argues could have happened without a criminal trial.Bradshaw said those determinations must be made case by case, depending on the crime.Cahill’s trial is scheduled for next month.
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. —
The prosecution of a West Palm Beach man accused of making a bomb threat from inside a psychiatric unit is sparking a broader debate about how the justice system handles mental illness.
Luke Cahill is charged with calling in a bomb threat last year that shut down the West Palm Beach Police Department and nearby roads for hours.
Police later traced the call to Cahill, who was inside a locked psychiatric unit at JFK Hospital under a Baker Act at the time.
Cahill’s attorney argues the case should never have been filed.
“I’ve always thought this was a horse with a broken leg. That’s the State Attorney’s Office. Should have put down a long time ago,” defense attorney John Cleary said. “And because they’re not making any decisions, they did not use their discretion in this case. And this case is an absurdity that continues.”
Cleary said doctors on scene had already diagnosed Cahill as psychotic and that prosecutors should have exercised discretion and declined to pursue felony charges.
The State Attorney’s Office declined to comment.
SHERIFF: MENTAL ILLNESS DOESN’T ERASE RESPONSIBILITY
Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw says mental illness does not automatically erase criminal responsibility and that those decisions ultimately belong to a judge.
“So the fact that it remains is that this person thought through it and made that call,” Bradshaw said. “So now it’s up to whoever is going to go in front of this judge to say, we think that you prosecuted or we should not. And let the judge make that decision.”
Bradshaw said law enforcement’s role is to investigate and make arrests when probable cause exists. Whether someone is legally insane is decided in court.
He also acknowledges the strain mental illness places on the system.
JAIL COUNTY’S LARGEST MENTAL HEALTH PROVIDER
“Yes. We treat about between three and 400 people a day with psychotropic drugs,” Bradshaw said. “We have a dedicated mental health ward, but it’s full all the time. So, it’s a lot.”
Bradshaw said the Palm Beach County jail has effectively become the largest mental health provider in the county, a role he says it was never designed to serve.
The tension between treatment and prosecution recently played out in the high-profile murder trial of Semmie Williams, who was convicted of second-degree murder in the stabbing death of 14-year-old Ryan Rogers in Palm Beach Gardens.
BIZARRE COURTROOM BEHAVIOR
In court, Williams displayed erratic behavior, fired attorneys and repeatedly interrupted proceedings.
“I want to fire my lawyer, she lied to me!” Williams shouted during one outburst.
Despite that behavior, he was ruled competent to stand trial.
Bradshaw cautions against assuming that bizarre courtroom behavior equals legal insanity.
“You got to be careful when you see people doing things like what he was doing,” Bradshaw said. “It’s easy. It’s easy to put that on. All right. So you can’t say, oh, because he’s jumpy or because he’s making some statements that are irrational, that makes him unfit to be there and he needs to go somewhere else.”
Cleary views the Williams case as an example of a system that spends significant time and taxpayer money litigating mental health issues that could be addressed differently.
“The state hired an expert and paid them, and they determined he wasn’t insane,” Cleary said. “And so he went to a full jury trial where he was absolutely insane and demonstrated his insanity to the jury and actually showed how crazy he was. And after all that work, they got a second-degree murder conviction, which I don’t know whether or not they thought that was worth all the efforts they put into it, because that could have been resolved without that.”
“JUSTICE SYSTEM NOT DESIGNED TO PUNISH THE INSANE”
Both sides agree that mental illness is real. They disagree on how far it should shield someone from prosecution.
“So it really depends on the severity of the issue that we’re talking about,” Bradshaw said.
“This is a problem because our justice system is designed to punish the guilty, not the insane,” Cleary said.
Cleary said he expects Cahill will ultimately be found not guilty by reason of insanity and placed in psychiatric care, something he argues could have happened without a criminal trial.
Bradshaw said those determinations must be made case by case, depending on the crime.
Cahill’s trial is scheduled for next month.