Dave Stalling
Nearly three months ago, the Missoula Current published an opinion piece I wrote titled “More Needed For People in Mental Health Crisis.”
In it, I described a close friend who, as a result of past trauma and related drug use, is experiencing severe paranoia and psychosis consistent with schizophrenia-like symptoms.
He came to believe that family members and other loved ones were part of a conspiracy to kill him or have him institutionalized. He believed we were communicating through Morse code via his electronic devices.
On Nov. 1, 2025, after writing a six-page letter outlining these delusions, he destroyed his television and other electronics with a baseball bat and then attacked his father, believing he was acting in self-defense. He was subsequently arrested and charged with causing bodily injury to a family member (a misdemeanor) and assault with a weapon (a felony).
Prior to this incident, he had never had any contact with the criminal justice system.
As I wrote in my previous opinion piece, like so many people struggling with mental illness and substance use, my friend needs treatment—not punishment. He is a very intelligent, kind and compassionate man with a bright future if he were to get the help he needs. But he was not receiving the treatment he desperately needs.
Now, more than four months after his arrest, I want to provide an update.
Nothing has changed. In fact, the situation has grown worse.
My friend is still incarcerated in the Missoula County Detention Facility. He has not been convicted of a crime. His court date is not until June. He is receiving no mental health care, and his condition continues to decline.
During my visits and in the notes he sends me, he continues to describe elaborate conspiracies. He believes his cell is wiretapped, that he is being framed for crimes he did not commit, and that he is being held illegally. His paranoia remains constant and deeply distressing.
The prosecutor, the judge and his legal counsel have all stated that he cannot be evaluated for mental health conditions without his consent. He has also been offered a plea bargain, which he refuses to accept because, in his state of mind, it confirms the conspiracies he believes are unfolding around him.
In other words, the decisions about his future are being left entirely to him—even though he is clearly not in a sound state of mind to make such decisions.
He is not capable of making these decisions for himself. Yet that reality appears to carry little weight in the system currently handling his case.
He is frightened, confused and often seems unaware of what is actually happening around him.
Still, he will remain incarcerated until his trial in June—facing both a misdemeanor and a felony—while receiving no meaningful evaluation or treatment for the mental health condition that is clearly driving his behavior.
Over the past several months, I have written multiple letters to the leadership of the Missoula County Crisis Intervention Team, the Missoula County Attorney’s Office and a mental health professional at the Missoula County Detention Center. I have informed them of his condition and provided copies of the six-page letter he wrote prior to his arrest, along with more recent correspondence demonstrating that he continues to suffer from severe delusions and is unable to make sound decisions regarding his future.
Although I have received a few brief acknowledgments, there has been no indication that any action has been taken.
As a nation, we frequently speak about the importance of addressing mental health and providing support for people in crisis. Yet in this case, no help is being provided.
So I will ask the same question I asked before Christmas:
Why is my friend not receiving the evaluations, treatment, support and resources he so clearly needs—and deserves?
David Stalling is a writer, photographer and advocate living in Missoula.