Pete Earley

(2-22-16) Maryland Judge Hayward West should be congratulated on his decision to place Romechia Simms, the Maryland mother found pushing her dead child on a swing last year, in treatment for her schizophrenia rather than sending her to jail.

Simms had stopped taking her medication when she became psychotic, began hearing voices, and took Ji’Aire Lee to a park where she pushed him in a bucket swing for more than 40 hours, including in the rain. The 3 year-old died of hypothermia and dehydration.

Public defender Elizabeth Connell said the agreement to keep Simms in community treatment represented a “progressive way of thinking” and was a “testament to the progress of science and society.” I agree.

Charles County State’s Attorney Tony Covington wasn’t pleased, but said he didn’t have much choice  after three psychologists found Simms not criminally responsible for her actions.

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Dear Mr. Earley,

Thank you for your testimony at the Senate Committee on the Judiciary hearing entitled: “Breaking the Cycle: Mental Health and the Justice System”… Attached are additional written follow up questions from Committee members…”

From Chairman Chuck Grassley:

I believe it is uncontested that mental health and mental illness have played at least some, if not the primary role in incidents that are now known by chilling, geographic, monikers such as Virginia Tech, New Town, Aurora, and Roanoke. As the Wall Street Journal reported late last fall, we need to make sure we are getting to these individuals when they are struggling with mental health issues, but before they spiral into full blown crisis.

Given that there are multiple schools of thought on how best to handle the mental health crisis as it relates to mass murders, what do you believe would be the most effective way to keep mentally ill individuals from harming others? Put another way, what can we do to help these ill individuals, but also prevent yet another mass murder?

RESPONSE FOR THE RECORD FROM PETE EARLEY, AUTHOR, JOURNALIST

As the parent of an adult son with a severe mental illness, I cringe whenever I see a news report about someone who is psychotic committing a violent act, such as a mass shooting.

It is important to put these shootings into context.

*Overall, persons with mental illnesses commit only five percent of all crimes. (1.)

*Overall, persons with mental illnesses are more likely to be victims than perpetrators of violence. (2.)

*When it comes to mass shootings, a study found that only 11 percent of mass shootings between 2009 and 2015 involved gunmen suspected of having mental health problems. (3.)

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(2-19-16) I received emails last week from two readers who were angry that the Senate Judiciary Committee had asked me to testify but had not asked anyone with a mental illness to speak during a recent congressional hearing.

“People with mental illnesses can speak for themselves,” one declared. “You have no right to tell your son’s story,” the other noted.

My response to their emails surprised them. Why? Because I agreed with them – although I didn’t appreciate the accusatory tone of their complaints.

Every time that I have been asked to testify before Congress, I have urged those in charge to include someone with a mental illness on the witness panel. Every time. Having a hearing about mental illness without including someone who has recovered from one is a missed opportunity. You wouldn’t hold a hearing about heart attacks without including someone who had suffered one. I’ve always felt strongly about this. That’s why my speaker’s contract includes a paragraph that states that if I am asked to participate in a panel after a speech, that panel needs to include someone with a mental illness.

After the horrific shooting on the Virginia Tech campus, I wrote an Op Ed in The Washington Post that criticized then Gov. Timothy Kaine for not including a person with mental illness on the panel investigating that tragedy. At its first meeting, I told members of the Ad Hoc Police Practices Review Commission in Fairfax, Virginia, that it needed to include persons with mental illnesses on the commission.

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Dear Pete,

My son, Dwayne Hicks, was diagnosed with bipolar disorder twenty-four years ago. He is one of the most talented, creative, artistic, patient, and sincere people you would ever meet. He figures out how to make things work and/or how to restore old things to make them appear new again; when others would have discarded them. He is an excellent hands-on dad. His two children love to play with him – and they enjoy just having him around. He has a heart of gold and loves anyone that half-way loves him – unconditionally.

I am writing to you because Dwayne is currently in the Virginia mental health system and it has been a nightmare trying to get him the help that he needs to recover. I believe my telling of his story might not only get attention and help for him, but also for others.

I also am writing to you because your son’s story — about how he broke into a stranger’s house to take a bubble bath — and my son’s story are eerily similar only with much different outcomes.

Our son was living with us along with his two children in late 2012 and had been working at a used car parts business when he began having trouble sleeping and began talking irrationally. I called the local crisis intervention services office, which is the Cumberland Mountain Community Services (CMCS) in rural Virginia. They told me there was nothing they could do unless he was trying to hurt or kill himself or hurt someone else.

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(2-11-16) Fairfax County, Virginia, officially announced today that its Diversion First effort to reduce the number of persons with mental illnesses in the county jail by diverting low risk offenders into community based treatment is up-and-running. This is tremendous news. It was even sweeter news for me because my son, Kevin, was asked to speak at this morning’s news conference about the importance of jail diversion. I am proud that he is a member of the county’s jail diversion team. 

Getting support for Crisis Intervention Team training, jail diversion, the opening of a crisis drop-off/assessment center, and a mental health docket has been a long and bumpy process in my home county. But thanks to a handful of determined officials it has happened.

In Virginia, we have a board of supervisors that runs our county governments, and Board Member John C. Cook and Board Chairwoman Sharon Bulova have been the driving forces behind Diversion First. On the law enforcement side, Sheriff Stacey Kincaid, Fairfax Police Chief Lt. Col. Edwin C. Roessler Jr., and Deputy County Executive David Rohrer each played key roles in forming a coalition that eventually brought more than a 100 different groups together to endorse jail diversion. On the mental health side, the effort was championed by Gary Ambrose, a member of the Community Service Board, which provides mental health treatment in Fairfax; Laura Yager, who assisted him, and Tisha Deeghan, our CSB executive director. Delegates Marcus Simon and Vivian Watts provided support in the general assembly.

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