Judge orders Rainier chief shooting defendant back to hospital

ST. HELENS, Ore. — Nearly four years after the Rainier, Ore., police chief was fatally shot, a judge has ordered the man charged in the case sent back to Oregon State Hospital to be forcibly medicated.

The Oregonian reports that Columbia County District Attorney Steve Atchison says Circuit Court Judge Ted Grove on Monday ordered Daniel Butts to be medicated so he can stand trial.

Butts was arrested on Jan. 5, 2011, after police say he grabbed Chief Ralph Painter’s gun and then shot the chief in the head at a Rainier stereo shop.

A grand jury indicted Butts on charges that include aggravated murder, which could carry the death penalty. He has pleaded not guilty.

Butts has previously been mentally evaluated at the state hospital in Salem, including once after he stabbed himself in the forehead with a pencil and refused treatment for the infected wound.

Another hearing is set for Jan. 16.