PORTLAND — The widow of an eastern Oregon man is suing the state for $400,000, alleging that a man let out of the Oregon State Hospital despite warnings by a psychologist deliberately caused a car crash that killed her husband.
David Bates, 38, a father of five, died after newly freed patient Anthony Montwheeler steered his pickup head-on into the couple’s SUV in January 2017, the lawsuit says. Jessica Bates, the wife of David Bates, also was badly injured in the crash.
Montwheeler, 51, had just fatally stabbed his ex-wife at an Ontario gas station and was fleeing that crime when he crashed into the SUV, authorities said.
Montwheeler’s disturbing history goes back more than 20 years. In 1997, he was determined to be guilty except for insanity for the kidnapping of his wife and first son. Instead of going to prison, he was ordered to be under the jurisdiction of the Oregon Psychiatric Security Review Board for 70 years and ultimately was confined to the Oregon State Hospital.
According to Jessica Bates’ lawsuit, less than a month before the fatal crash, the Psychiatric Security Review Board ordered Montwheeler freed from the state-run psychiatric hospital after Montwheeler convinced the board during a December 2016 hearing that he’d been faking insanity for years to avoid prison.
Psychiatrist Mukesh Mittal supported the theory that Montwheeler wasn’t mentally ill, stating that Montwheeler hadn’t been taking his medications for the previous year and wasn’t showing signs of bipolar disorder, the suit says. Mittal concluded that a patient who hadn’t taken his medications for that length of time and wasn’t exhibiting symptoms doesn’t have that disease, the suit says.
But the Psychiatric Security Review Board had conflicting evidence before it: Brian Hartman, a psychologist who had seen Montwheeler for the previous two years, warned the board that Montwheeler was still dangerous. Hartman said that “if in the community without supervision, (Montwheeler’s) risk of violence would be high” and Montwheeler would most likely target an intimate partner or other family members, according to the lawsuit.
Those concerns were echoed by the board’s acting chairwoman, Kate Lieber, who told Montwheeler at the hearing that “my hope is you will do the right thing. I’m sincerely worried that you won’t,” according to the lawsuit.
Montwheeler was released and three weeks later, prosecutors say he killed his ex-wife, Annita Harmon, and David Bates.
The lawsuit lists three state agencies as defendants: the Psychiatric Security Review Board, the Oregon State Hospital and the Oregon Health Authority. The suit also lists Mittal, who works at the state hospital, as a defendant.
Rebeka Gipson-King, a spokeswoman for the state hospital, responded to an email seeking comment from all three agencies by saying she can’t comment on the lawsuit.
“Federal and state patient privacy rules apply to the Oregon State Hospital and do not allow us to discuss individual patient care,” she wrote.
After the killings of David Bates and Annita Harmon, Montwheeler was charged with two counts of aggravated murder for their deaths.
