Planned Parenthood Shooting Suspect Wants To Represent Himself At Trial

December 23, 2015
Photo: Planned Parenthood Shhoting Suspect Robert Dear Glares At Attorney Daniel King
In this December 2015 file photo, Robert Dear glares at his attorney Daniel King during a court hearing in Colorado Springs.

Robert Lewis Dear, the man who has acknowledged killing three people at a Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood clinic, said Wednesday he wants to invoke his constitutional right to defend himself in the case.

Prosecutors have charged Dear with 179 counts, including first-degree murder, attempted murder and assault.

Photo: Planned Parenthood Colorado Springs Robert Lewis Dear Booking Photo
Robert Lewis Dear in an undated booking photo.

Martinez ordered a psychological evaluation of Dear by the state hospital to determine whether he's competent to represent himself.

That process could take up to nine months, but Dear said he wouldn’t cooperate with it.  He said he feared the evaluators would drug him up.

Dear repeatedly disrupted his previous court appearance, declaring himself guilty and "a warrior for the babies." 

"I want the truth to come out," he said earlier this month. "There is a lot more to this than me to go silently into the grave.  There's a lot of things they don't want to known. Planned Parenthood and my lawyer are in cahoots because they don't want the truth to come out," he said.

He also said his attorney, Daniel King, who also represented Aurora theater shooter James Holmes, "drugged" Holmes, and "he wants to do that to me."

"Do you know who this lawyer is? He's the lawyer for the Batman shooter," Dear said. He also objected to his lawyer's efforts to limit publicity. 

The Associated Press and other news outlets want a judge to unseal arrest and search warrants in the case.

Dear's next hearing is scheduled in 60 days.