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Oregon State Hospital, Health Authority inaction targeted by local lawyer By Terri Harber Updated: Oct 07, 2021 04:41 PM A A Circuit Court judge allows hearing to learn why state health entities have left defendant in Jackson County Jail since January A man who has sat in the Jackson County Jail for more than eight months could find out in later this month why he hasn’t been transported to the Oregon State Hospital for mental health treatment. Jackson County Circuit Court Judge pro tem Paul Moser granted a request from attorney Alyssa Bartholomew of Southern Oregon Public Defenders Inc., for a show cause hearing that would require the Oregon Health Authority and Oregon State Hospital to explain why Aaron David Whitley, 39 and found to be guilty except for insanity on Jan. 15, still remains in the county jail. Bartholomew asserted that the two state health entities are in violation of a Jackson County Circuit Court order to transport Whitley to the state hospital, thus are in remedial contempt of court. Bartholomew asked that Whitley receive financial compensation for the state’s court order violation due to “the loss, injury, and costs suffered by him as the result of the contempt of court” as well as creation of another court order to ensure “compliance with the prior court order.” If Whitley is transferred to the state hospital before the show cause hearing occurs Oct. 29, the hearing should still happen. Oregon Revised Statutes No. 033.015 allows for sanctions in such instances no matter whether the contemptible action has ended or is ongoing and “within two years of the act or omission constituting the contempt,” the attorney noted in her written motion and then explained it to Moser on Thursday in court. Whitley’s attorney is citing a recent case in Multnomah County, in which two men Jarod Scott Bowman and Joshawn Douglas-Simpson, both found to be guilty except for insanity for their respective offenses, had been sitting in the Multnomah County Jail for months in spite of court orders asking that Bowman be placed in the state hospital without “unreasonable delay” and Douglas-Simpson be sent there “immediately,” a Multnomah County Circuit Court document stated. The two men’s cases were combined with the aim of finding the state hospital and health authority in remedial contempt of those Circuit Court orders. The same court document explained that as of July 14, there were 18 guilty except for insanity defendants still being held in county jails across the state because there were no transports to the state hospital from these jails since the beginning of 2021. Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge Nan Waller found that the state health entities were in remedial contempt because they were holding open beds based on choices, such as specifically prioritizing some patients over others. Even though the choices were based on earlier court orders, decisions could result in a defendant determined to be unfit to stand trial being given higher priority for a bed at the state hospital than one declared guilty except for insanity, for example. Waller determined that the state hospital and health authority could still comply with the Circuit Court orders placing Bowman and Douglas-Simpson in the state hospital because the cap on patients in the facility exists for the sake of providing staff with flexibility to move patients as deemed necessary -- even when doing so is “necessary for health and safety reasons.” The judge also ordered the state to pay Multnomah County $100 per day each man isn’t housed in the state hospital. The money would offset the cost to keep them in the county jail. Bartholomew noted after court last week that Whitley has been in the Jackson County Jail longer than Bowman and Douglas-Simpson were in the Multnomah County Jail. She previously asked the Jackson County Circuit Court to either to find a bed for Whitley in the state hospital immediately or that he be released from the county jail until he gets into the state hospital for his court-ordered mental health treatment. Whitley was released from the jail only temporarily. The District Attorney’s Office acted to have him returned to county jail custody because the Circuit Court didn’t actually have the jurisdiction to release him. His case had become the responsibility of the Psychiatric Security Review Board, the DA’s Office argued. Also cited in the District Attorney’s request to reverse the order to release Whitley from the county jail was that his victims weren’t notified and the state wasn’t provided substantive notice of his release. Whitley’s criminal offense that resulted in his being booked into the county jail happened in February of 2020, when he attempted to commit a carjacking in Ashland, according to previous accounts.