Sentencing for man who stabbed his father shows complicated intersection of law and mental health

Sep. 30—During Tyler Anderson's sentencing Monday for stabbing his father, Spokane County Superior Court Judge Raymond Clary took his glasses off and rubbed his eyes in apparent frustration.

"What if they don't find housing for him? Where is he going to be, on the street?" Clary asked the attorneys who nodded.

Anderson, 38, stabbed his father four times in the middle of the night in June at their home on the South Hill. He was handed 24 months in community custody Monday after pleading guilty to assault, but not without bewilderment from the courtroom, some of whom could not figure out why Anderson had nowhere to go following his sentence.

Spokane County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Dara Schroeter said Anderson was diagnosed with a serious mental illness and qualified for a mental health sentence alternative, allowing him to avoid prison time, but they couldn't find in-patient housing for him to obtain treatment along with substance use treatment because of a prior sex offense from nine years ago when he met an underage girl in an online chatroom.

Even if they can, the intake process is weeks or months, his defense attorney Dawson Osborn said.

"No one in this courtroom wants him to be out on the streets. I don't have an answer for why his offense nine years ago would prevent him from obtaining housing," Osborn said. "I've had situations where people have had prior (second-degree) rape (convictions) with no issues."

Anderson could go home, his sister Jill Reeves said, but he can't stay in the same place he stabbed his father forever.

"Tyler has a story. He desperately needs mental health treatment. ... He is ready for a chance, wanting the help, he's ready to participate in a path forward. I believe that he can do it. He's made big mistakes, but he's been at a disadvantage for most of his life," she said. "The reality is if he's released today, and he wants to be, he will be returning to the environment that got him here. He's going to go back to my parents' house .. And my parents are not going to let their son go out on the street."

Anderson's father was taken to Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center after he was stabbed in the hip, chest and left leg, according to court records. Medical staff told police he suffered a partial collapsed lung.

Frontier Behavioral Health is set up to give Anderson the treatment he needs, Schroeter said. Normally, inmates with mental health issues are released straight into Frontier's facility. Anderson, however, needs certain referrals to get into a facility and has to participate in interviews with treatment experts for other places. He was unable to get the referral until he was sentenced while being denied due to his prior offense, Schroeter added, so Clary would be sentencing him to living on the streets at best.

Clary could have kept Anderson in jail while waiting for a referral and a bed at a place that accepts sex offenders, but all parties agreed it was clear that Anderson "wasn't doing well in jail" even while taking the medications he was prescribed.

"Tyler spent an additional week in the jail because he was under the impression a housing alternative would be possible for him," Reeves said. "Here we are, a week later, with no steps forward."

Anderson was also supposed to speak with peer support who could connect him with resources outside the jail, but "they have not met with him," Osborn told Clary.

"It would be an easy solution if we could figure out why he can't get an inpatient bed. They've told us why, but it doesn't make sense to me," he said.

Clary continually rose from his seat to grab more case law and documents as he decided what to do.

"I don't have a home to send him to," he said with a sigh.

Anderson was given an opportunity to speak, and while he voiced the need for treatment and wanting to get help, he also was at a loss for what to do and say.

His sister voiced her frustration with the process itself; she had called around to other treatment centers, she said, but it's time the family is concerned about.

"We certainly don't want him on the street," Reeves said. "The accountability piece is important ... We want housing where we aren't waiting for three months for someone to help us."

At the end of the sentencing Monday, Clary ultimately decided that Anderson needed to check in with his assigned community custody officer once a day on their terms, whether in person or by phone. He also must stay away from drugs and firearms and will be temporarily staying with his parents until he finds somewhere else to live.

"I've been put in a difficult spot... If I hold him, my experience — and what I'm hearing — is that he's going through decomposition by being confined, even though he's receiving medication," Clary said , "that's not going to solve our problem. Treatment is going to solve our problem."