World | Thu Aug 11, 2016 3:06pm EDT

Colorado clinic shooter still mentally incompetent to stand trial: hospital

DENVER | BY KEITH COFFMAN

A man accused of killing three people at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado last year who was ruled incompetent to stand trial remains mentally unfit, according to a report from a mental hospital, a court official said on Thursday.

At a brief hearing in El Paso County District Court, the judge presiding over the murder case read from the report that said Robert Lewis Dear, 58, has not been restored to competency, said Rob McCallum, spokesman for the Colorado Judicial Branch.The report cited by El Paso County District Court Judge Gilbert Martinez from the state hospital where Dear is being held means that criminal proceedings against him remain on hold.

Dear has been charged with multiple counts of first-degree murder, attempted murder and assault stemming from the November 2015 shooting rampage at the clinic in Colorado Springs that also left nine others wounded.

In previous courtroom outbursts, Dear declared his guilt and proclaimed himself “a warrior for the babies,” prompting Martinez to order a competency evaluation.

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