WASHINGTON D.C. — The United States Supreme Court will not hear arguments in the case against the admitted Planned Parenthood shooter, Robert Dear.
On Monday, Robert Dear vs The United States was just one of many cases listed that the Supreme Court refused to hear arguments in.
Dear's case was elevated by his defense after Judge Robert Blackburn with the United States District Court of Colorado ruled in September of 2022 that Dear could be involuntarily medicated to restore his competency.
Covering Colorado
Judge says man charged in Planned Parenthood shooting can be forcibly medicated
In June of 2024, the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit upheld Judge Blackburn's ruling, leading to the petition to the Supreme Court.
In the years following the 2015 Planned Parenthood shooting, Dear was deemed incompetent to stand trial. Now with the Supreme Court's decision to not hear the case, a possible trial could follow once Dear begins the path to restoring competency.
Watch: Robert Dear Indicted By Federal Grand Jury for Planned Parenthood Shooting
Dear admitted to the shooting during his first appearances in court in 2015. In December 2019, a federal grand jury indicted him on 68 counts connected to the shooting. The shooting claimed the lives of three individuals and injured nine others.
It is still unclear what the path to restoring competency will look like, or when Dear will be in court again. I reached out to Dear's public defense attorney Jacob Rasch-Chabot for comment on the decision. In short, Rasch-Chabot said "my office does not comment on its cases.”
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