4th insanity finding, this time after killing

Published 7:51 pm Thursday, December 16, 2010

EVERETT — For the fourth time in his life, Steven Well was acquitted Thursday of a violent crime after a judge concluded that the mentally ill man was criminally insane when he lashed out against another person.

Well killed his landlady, Judith Garcia, in July inside a downtown Everett apartment building. He said Garcia refused to return a copy of his lease. Garcia, 64, was in the foyer with her dog, likely returning from a walk. Well grabbed a knife from his apartment and repeatedly stabbed the Everett grandmother.

Well was charged with second-degree murder while armed with a knife. A judge Thursday found that Well was not sane at the time of the killing and therefore not legally responsible for his actions.

Doctors concluded that Well, 59, was in the throes of a mental health crisis and didn’t grasp the extent of his actions or that they were wrong.

Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Thomas Wynne ordered Well back to Western State Hospital, indefinitely.

This is a compromise, said Well’s attorney, Kathleen Kyle.

“Society believes that people who commit crimes should be punished. Society also believes that those who are ill should receive treatment and those who are acutely ill should be hospitalized. This is a just compromise,” Kyle said.

Well has been living with schizophrenia for more than three decades. He has been medicated, hospitalized and has gone for years between violent outbursts.

But doctors recently concluded that Well likely wasn’t taking a therapeutic level of his medication this summer. Well had convinced doctors in 2007 to lower the dosage of his medication after complaining that the drug made him lethargic.

That lower dosage may have made him more susceptible to stress, according to a report filed this month. Symptoms of schizophrenia, including paranoia, are more likely to show themselves when the person is under stress, the doctors said.

Well told doctors that he had “doors slammed” in his face by people whom he relied on for help, including his doctors. He believed that Garcia was intent on evicting him.

“My safety and welfare was involved in the lease agreement. I tried to be assertive. I decided to get a knife and stick her. She had taken the lease agreement and endangered my health and welfare,” Well reportedly told the state doctors.

Well said he didn’t plan to kill Garcia, but when she declined to give him back the copy of his lease, he “went off the deep end,” according to report.

Garcia was not the first person Well attacked with a knife during a bout of paranoia, court papers show.

Well was locked up for about 20 years at Western State Hospital after he stabbed his then-landlady in 1980. He said she was trying to invade his brain.

He was acquitted of the crime after the judge concluded that Well was insane at the time of the assault. Well was released from the state hospital in 2004 after a lengthy court battle, and the state Court of Appeals found fault with Well’s original plea.

Prosecutors and the judge attempted to put safeguards in place to protect the public and Well. As a condition of his release, Well was required to take his medication, attend therapy sessions and find stable housing. The judge also ordered that Well’s mental health provider file progress reports with the court and attorneys every six months.

The last letter in the file was dated December 2008. The therapist indicated that Well continued to take medications and meet with mental health professionals.

There is nothing in the file to indicate why the court stopped receiving reports.

Garcia’s family is hoping to get to the bottom of that question. They filed a lawsuit in September against Compass Health, alleging that the mental health provider failed to adequately monitor Well and report his progress to the court as the judge ordered.

Garcia’s daughter, two sons, sister and nephew spoke at Thursday’s hearing. Most spoke directly to Well, some with anger. Others said they’ll work to forgive him because that’s what Judith Garcia would have expected them to do.

The tight-knit family spoke of Garcia’s generosity, strong faith and capacity for love.

She was the “captain of their family,” Simeon Garcia said.

Judith Garcia wasn’t aware of Well’s violent past, her sons said. She knew he was different and could have refused to renew his lease, but she wasn’t the kind to put someone out on the street, her family said. She even baked him cookies and left them on his doorstep one day, her son said.

The system “dropped the ball and that cost my mom’s life,” Michael Garcia said. Mentally ill people need to be monitored and if they’re too sick to care for themselves or if they endanger others, they need to be locked up, he said.

Well was given too many chances, the family said. They will fight to keep Well at the state hospital. They will do it to protect other families, so others don’t have to suffer what they have, Garcia’s children said.

“We will remind the courts what he took from us. We have a hole in our hearts,” Michael Garcia said.

Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463; hefley@heraldnet.com.

Three attacks and four acquittals

Key events in Steven Well’s legal history:

February 1980: Well is charged with breaking into his landlady’s apartment and stabbing her. She survived.

April 1980: He is acquitted by reason of insanity and sent to Western State Hospital.

1983: Well is conditionally released to a group home.

1988: Well attacks a resident at a group home with a hammer. He is acquitted by reason of insanity and sent back to Western State Hospital.

1996: Well petitions for release, claiming his lawyer failed to advise him properly about his plea for the 1980 attack.

2001: The state Court of Appeals sides with Well and sends the case back to the trial court.

2004: Well is acquitted by reason of insanity for the 1980 knife attack. He is conditionally released.

December 2008: Court-ordered progress reports cease being filed by Well’s mental health care provider.

July 18, 2010: Well fatally stabs his landlady, Judith Garcia. He is later charged with second-degree murder.

Sept. 8: Garcia’s family files a lawsuit against Compass Health, alleging the facility failed to monitor Well as the court ordered in 2004.

Oct. 29: Well provides notice that he intends to plead not guilty by reason of insanity.

Nov. 30: Doctors conclude Well was insane when he killed Garcia.

Dec. 16: Well is acquitted of Garcia’s murder by reason of insanity. He is ordered locked up at Western for treatment, indefinitely.