COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KOAA) — The admitted gunman in the attack on the Nov. 27 2015 Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood died Saturday Nov.22, nearly 10 years to the day since the shooting.
Robert Dear was being held at the United States Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Missouri.
While the shooting happened a decade ago, Dear never even made a formal plea, despite yelling out in a 2015 court hearing “I’m guilty. There’s no trial!”.
His case was defined by a competency process that caused challenges for prosecutors at the state and federal level.
“This was kind of an odd case that he came in day one wanting to plead guilty, willing to take the penalties associated with that,” Dan May, the former 4th Judicial District Attorney who was one of the original prosecutors on the case said.
May was driving his car Tuesday when he heard Dear died on his car’s radio.
“I was kind of shocked, I kind of did a double take. I actually pulled over and looked at my phone and said, Robert Dear died?” May recalled.
Ten years and no plea or trial for the self-proclaimed gunman.
Details of the case have been limited in the last decade, which is typical for cases prior to trial, but it was also intentional on May’s part. He said he wanted to make sure there were no leaks, he met with individual police officers after the shooting to set the tone that there would be no leaks to the press.
“It’s one of the most buttoned up cases I’ve had, but it’s sort of setting that tone that night, because you see on these cases nationally, they just leak, leak, leak and that does not not help a prosecutor's case. It doesn't help the defense attorneys case, doesn't help the judge in the courtroom. We actually kept a pretty good lid on it starting that night,” May said.
Five years on the case while in office, he was frustrated the case didn’t have a finish.
“I thought it would get to trial. Robert Dear always wanted to plead guilty,” May said.
May dealt with a myriad of frustrations with the court consistently ruling him incompetent to stand trial in his state case, where he faced nearly 200 counts including first degree murder.
“We felt pretty confident that he was going to be found competent at some point and that we would have a trial,” May said, “we tried a lot of different tactics around that.”
May said at one point Dear was teaching “competency classes” at the State Mental Health Hospital in Pueblo, where he spent years. The classes were education for patients to try and return them to competency, May said Dear was a teacher for those classes, despite a judge repeatedly ruling him incompetent.
“We put that on even as evidence at one of our hearings that he was teaching the class, saying in our opinion, we felt he was competent enough to go ahead and make decisions on this case.”
During his first in-person court appearance, Dear made numerous outbursts including calling out his public defender, Dan King. King had previously represented James Holmes, who earlier thate year had been found guilty of killing 12 people at an Aurora movie theater in 2012.
“When he [King] walked in, I think Dear recognized him immediately, looked at him and said, I don't want Batman's attorney, and he said that because that was the movie playing at the theater at the time, Batman. So he made that connection right away,” May said.
May said one of the arguments in the competency process was that Dear wouldn’t cooperate with his attorney on day one.
“One of the things that happened when we were when they were on the stand in the competency hearing, and I asked the doctor, psychologist, I said, did you ever ask him, dear, if he just doesn't want this [King] attorney? You're saying he won't cooperate with his attorneys because it's clear from day one he didn't want this attorney and in my recollection is he said no, we never asked him that,” May said.
Dear also repeatedly refused medication to restore himself to competency. In his federal case, his legal team filed numerous appeals on his right to refuse medication. The appeals made it all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court, where they declined to take on the case. Eventually, a federal judge ruled for him to be forcibly medicated, that process began earlier this year.
In September, a federal evaluator ruled Dear incompetent and said he was likely not restorable. At a hearing for Dear’s state case in November, prosecutors said a process was underway to have Dear civilly committed to a federal mental health facility. It would have meant Dear would go to a federal facility for treatment.
May said he had wondered during the time he was a prosecutor on the case if there was a change in philosophy at the Colorado Mental Health Hospital in Pueblo leading to the consistent incompetent rulings.
“Quite frankly, in the end, psychologists, psychiatrists, it's their opinion,” May said.
The day of the shooting: November 27, 2015
Dear’s girlfriend was in the hospital in Woodland Park, that’s when May said he became focused on Planned Parenthood.
“He saw a sign about Planned Parenthood on the road, and all of a sudden, it made him focus that that day, he was going to do something about it,” May said.
May said Dear couldn’t locate the Planned Parenthood in Colorado Springs and at one point drove in front of the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office with plans to attack there. May said Dear had planned to drive to a clinic in Canon City and instead called the clinic and got the address for the Colorado Springs location.
The victims in the case never got the chance to hear Dear address them directly, he spoke out in court multiple times alluding to his motivation for the shooting. May said the motivation was clear: he wanted to go after Planned Parenthood.
“He's been focused on Planned Parenthood, probably for decades. He clearly made it clear that one of his heroes was somebody who attacked a Planned Parenthood down south and just pled guilty to the penalties,” May said.
According to an arrest affidavit, Dear “thought very highly of” Paul Hill, who murdered an Dr. John Britton, an abortion provider in Florida in 1994. Dear had also previously super glued all of the locks at a Planned Parenthood in South Carolina
The fact that Dear died before victims got their day in court is something that weighs on May.
“The victims have waited and waited and waited. So I got to think this is a sudden ending for them. They never did get to that guilt stage, which they deserved and which Robert Dear was, quite frankly, trying to do,” May said, “
In 2015, the death penalty was still a punishment for Colorado defendants, state lawmakers repealed it in 2020. The Department of Justice ruled in 2020 he would not face the death penalty for federal charges he faced either.
“In the end, he's exactly where he ought to be,” May said.
The admitted gunman in the attack on the Nov. 27 2015 Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood died Saturday, nearly 10 years to the day since the shooting.
Robert Dear was being held at the United States Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Missouri.
While the shooting happened a decade ago, Dear never even made a formal plea, despite yelling out in a 2015 court hearing “I’m guilty. There’s no trial!”.
His case was defined by a competency process that caused challenges for prosecutors at the state and federal level.
“This was kind of an odd case that he came in day one wanting to plead guilty, willing to take the penalties associated with that,” Dan May, the former 4th Judicial District Attorney who was one of the original prosecutors on the case said.
May was driving his car Tuesday when he heard Dear died on his car’s radio.
“I was kind of shocked, I kind of did a double take. I actually pulled over and looked at my phone and said, Robert Dear died?” May recalled.
Ten years and no plea or trial for the self-proclaimed gunman.
Details of the case have been limited in the last decade, which is typical for cases prior to trial, but it was also intentional on May’s part. He said he wanted to make sure there were no leaks, he met with individual police officers after the shooting to set the tone that there would be no leaks to the press.
“It’s one of the most buttoned up cases I’ve had, but it’s sort of setting that tone that night, because you see on these cases nationally, they just leak, leak, leak and that does not not help a prosecutor's case. It doesn't help the defense attorneys case, doesn't help the judge in the courtroom. We actually kept a pretty good lid on it starting that night,” May said.
Five years on the case while in office, he was frustrated the case didn’t have a finish.
“I thought it would get to trial. Robert Dear always wanted to plead guilty,” May said.
May dealt with a myriad of frustrations with the court consistently ruling him incompetent to stand trial in his state case, where he faced nearly 200 counts including first degree murder.
“We felt pretty confident that he was going to be found competent at some point and that we would have a trial,” May said, “we tried a lot of different tactics around that.”
May said at one point Dear was teaching “competency classes” at the State Mental Health Hospital in Pueblo, where he spent years. The classes were education for patients to try and return them to competency, May said Dear was a teacher for those classes, despite a judge repeatedly ruling him incompetent.
“We put that on even as evidence at one of our hearings that he was teaching the class, saying in our opinion, we felt he was competent enough to go ahead and make decisions on this case.”
During his first in-person court appearance, Dear made numerous outbursts including calling out his public defender, Dan King. King had previously represented James Holmes, who earlier thate year had been found guilty of killing 12 people at an Aurora movie theater in 2012.
“When he [King] walked in, I think Dear recognized him immediately, looked at him and said, I don't want Batman's attorney, and he said that because that was the movie playing at the theater at the time, Batman. So he made that connection right away,” May said.
May said one of the arguments in the competency process was that Dear wouldn’t cooperate with his attorney on day one.
“One of the things that happened when we were when they were on the stand in the competency hearing, and I asked the doctor, psychologist, I said, did you ever ask him, dear, if he just doesn't want this [King] attorney? You're saying he won't cooperate with his attorneys because it's clear from day one he didn't want this attorney and in my recollection is he said no, we never asked him that,” May said.
Dear also repeatedly refused medication to restore himself to competency. In his federal case, his legal team filed numerous appeals on his right to refuse medication. The appeals made it all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court, where they declined to take on the case. Eventually, a federal judge ruled for him to be forcibly medicated, that process began earlier this year.
In September, a federal evaluator ruled Dear incompetent and said he was likely not restorable. At a hearing for Dear’s state case in November, prosecutors said a process was underway to have Dear civilly committed to a federal mental health facility. It would have meant Dear would go to a federal facility for treatment.
May said he had wondered during the time he was a prosecutor on the case if there was a change in philosophy at the Colorado Mental Health Hospital in Pueblo leading to the consistent incompetent rulings.
“Quite frankly, in the end, psychologists, psychiatrists, it's their opinion,” May said.
The day of the shooting: November 27, 2015
Dear’s girlfriend was in the hospital in Woodland Park, that’s when May said he became focused on Planned Parenthood.
“He saw a sign about Planned Parenthood on the road, and all of a sudden, it made him focus that that day, he was going to do something about it,” May said.
May said Dear couldn’t locate the Planned Parenthood in Colorado Springs and at one point drove in front of the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office with plans to attack there. May said Dear had planned to drive to a clinic in Canon City and instead called the clinic and got the address for the Colorado Springs location.
The victims in the case never got the chance to hear Dear address them directly, he spoke out in court multiple times alluding to his motivation for the shooting. May said the motivation was clear: he wanted to go after Planned Parenthood.
“He's been focused on Planned Parenthood, probably for decades. He clearly made it clear that one of his heroes was somebody who attacked a Planned Parenthood down south and just pled guilty to the penalties,” May said.
According to an arrest affidavit, Dear “thought very highly of” Paul Hill, who murdered an Dr. John Britton, an abortion provider in Florida in 1994. Dear had also previously super glued all of the locks at a Planned Parenthood in South Carolina
The fact that Dear died before victims got their day in court is something that weighs on May.
“The victims have waited and waited and waited. So I got to think this is a sudden ending for them. They never did get to that guilt stage, which they deserved and which Robert Dear was, quite frankly, trying to do,” May said, “
In 2015, the death penalty was still a punishment for Colorado defendants, state lawmakers repealed it in 2020. The Department of Justice ruled in 2020 he would not face the death penalty for federal charges he faced either.
“In the end, he's exactly where he ought to be,” May said.
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