Exam ordered in monument vandalism case
Ten Commandments suspect sick, not criminal, court told
The lawyer for the 32-year-old Van Buren man accused of demolishing the state’s brand-new Ten Commandments monument took steps Tuesday to explore a possible insanity defense for his client.
At the request of Public Defender Kent Krause, Pulaski County Circuit Judge Chris Piazza ordered the Arkansas State Hospital to perform a mental evaluation to determine whether Michael Tate Reed II is fit to stand trial.
Reed made his first circuit court appearance Tuesday to answer a felony criminal mischief charge that could net him up to 10 years in the penitentiary.
Relatives say he’s been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, which is a condition that combines the hallucinations of schizophrenia with a mood disorder, such as depression or bipolar disorder.
“Michael is not a criminal. He’s sick and in need of mental health treatment,” his mother, Crystal Tucker, and sisters Mindy Poor and Jennifer Reed wrote in a July letter to the court. “His life is more important than any block of granite.”
The letter asks that Reed be committed for treatment rather than prosecuted.
“This is key in getting Michael diverted out of jail and into a hospital where he can once again be the Michael we know and love,” the letter states.
“All it takes is a couple of missed [medication] doses and his mental health goes down hill. His strong faith in God would never allow him to destroy the Ten Commandments monument. However, when he’s off his medications, the voices in his head tell him to do things he would never do when he’s stable and healthy.”
The 6-foot-tall monument had been in place on the state Capitol grounds less than a day when a Capitol Police officer saw a car ram the granite piece about an hour before sunrise on June 28, knocking it off its stand.
The 6,000-pound monument, which commemorated the biblical laws of Judaism and Christianity, shattered into three large pieces and countless shards. A replacement is being readied and reportedly close to installation. Reed was arrested at the scene and has been jailed ever since.
The 6-foot, 2-inch, 202-pound Reed appeared before Piazza wearing a blue jail uniform and in handcuffs, with waist and leg shackles. He did not speak during the five-minute arraignment aside from talking quietly with his lawyer.
Piazza set a Nov. 16 hearing for a report on progress of the mental evaluation. The proceedings cannot move forward until the judge decides whether Reed is competent to stand trial.
The judge could make his decision on Reed’s mental state after hearing testimony at a competency hearing or if the defense acknowledges that the defendant is fit for trial.
To determine whether he’s competent for trial, state doctors will test Reed to determine the extent of any mental illness or brain damage and review whatever medical records they can obtain.
Examiners will question him about how well he understands the criminal charge against him and test his knowledge of courtroom procedure and whether he will be able to consult with his attorney to contribute to his defense. The process, which will produce a written report, can take months.
Hours before the marker was destroyed, a message, “Our Constitutional rights have been violated and since no one will do anything about it I will,” was posted on Reed’s Facebook page.
Preceding that was a statement: “I don’t know who called the police that said I was going to sacrifice myself. [You’re] a liar and all liars got to hell.”
His Facebook profile photograph at the time of the crash was a picture of Reed holding a small Ten Commandments plaque that he said was in his grandfather’s home.
The moments leading up to the crash were captured in a 17-second video on Reed’s Facebook page. The recording opens in the dark interior of the car, illuminated by only the orange dashboard display, with the song “Throne Room” by Christian singer Kim Walker-Smith playing.
For several seconds, the camera moves from the dash to the front window as the car’s headlights turn on, directly across from the monument. The lights don’t quite reach it. As the camera wobbles, a voice hoarsely speaks, “Oh, my goodness.”
Then, as the car starts moving forward, the voice calls out “Freedom” over the music. Just as the marker starts coming into view, the camera dives sharply to the right and there’s a brief sound that might be the collision just as the recording ends.
The Arkansas monument is a duplicate of the marker at the Texas Capitol and the twin to one in Oklahoma that Reed destroyed by ramming his pickup into it in October 2014.
He was not charged with any crime in that case in an arrangement with prosecutors that required him to spend time in an Oklahoma mental institution, then continue treatment and therapy after his January 2015 release.
Several videos on his Facebook page feature him talking about his views on Christianity, prophecy and civil rights.
One video shows a shirtless Reed with a sunburned face sitting in a car. In the three-minute recording, he describes how he went to a Tulsa Italian restaurant in a blue mask with a blue shirt.
“What I did, the Lord told me to do,” he said.
Reed said he denounced tyranny and set an American flag on fire before leaving. He said he then performed a ritual in the parking lot outside.
“I pulled out my knife and started to have my own personal pow-wow dance,” he said. “I declared myself Michael the Great Prince. I just fulfilled a very old Hopi Indian prophecy of someone called the Blue Star Kachina.”
He said authorities took him to a hospital but that he walked out because God told him to leave.