“It’s easier to deal with a casewhere someone shot and killed somebody than a casewhere you can’t figure outwhat is going on in someone’s brain.”

sulting in multiple reports and doctors reaching different conclusions, Gowensmith said.

Multiple evaluations

William Lee Lornes was three days away from his 25th birthday when he was charged with first-degree murder for robbing and killing a 73-year-old Denver man, throwing his body in a trash bin and then kidnapping awoman at the Cherry Creek Shopping Center in 2011. Now the 27-year-old has undergone competency evaluations with four doctors.

Two found him competent to face the charges against him, and two said he was too mentally unstable to understand.

“Competency to proceed is a dynamic construct, meaning it changes,” Gowensmith said. “It can change from day to day or week to week.”

Lornes’ case file is filled with lengthy handwritten motions he filed independently of his attorneys. At a glance they appear to be rambling, endless sentences, but buried in the tiny, tidy handwriting are researched and precise statements, including a list of the charges against him matched with arguments to disprove them.

During a hearing earlier this year, Lornes’ attorney described his delusions about a lawsuit he claims could win him up to $5 million and his belief he will be a rich music producer. But prosecutors called Lornes’ actions a well-thought-out ploy, and argued his behavior was an effort to remain at the state hospital.

The case is set to go to trial in June.

From 2004 to 2013, the number of competency evaluations increased by an average of 76 evaluations each year, according to information obtained from the Colorado Department of Human Services. Those numbers do not include “second evaluations,” which are requested and paid for by defense attorneys or prosecutors.

In 2013, 1,069 competency evaluations were completed. Of those evaluations, 355 were completed at the Colorado Mental Health Institute at Pueblo, where one exam can cost as much as $35,000. It costs roughly $700 a day to house someone during an evaluation, and the average stay at the hospital that year was 41 days.

Quality concerns

There is a greater awareness of how someone’s mental health can affect their ability to receive a fair trial, and howfailing to consider their competency can become grounds for appeals, said Dr. Patrick Fox, deputy director of clinical services with the Office of Behavioral Health in the human services department.

The human services department has 20 doctors who complete competency evaluations, and each exam is different.

“It’s easier to deal with a case where someone shot and killed somebody than a case where you can’t figure out what is going on in someone’s brain,” said Denver attorney Iris Eytan.

Eytan, who led a successful lawsuit against the state to ensure that the evaluations are done in a timely manner, said she’s concerned about the quality of the reports.

In 2009, developmentally disabledTyler Sanchezwas accused of breaking into the second-story bedroom of an 8-year-old girl and molesting her. Two evaluations found him competent, but a third exam found that not only was he incompetent, but his hearing impairment, anxiety disorder and borderline intellectual functioning likely caused him to give police a false confession — the prosecution’s key evidence in the case. A Douglas County judge dismissed the charges in 2012.

Eytan, who represented Sanchez, said the first evaluator failed to perform tests or consider the then-18year-old’s mental health history.

Gowensmith said the increase in the number of evaluations has nothing to do with legal strategy, but instead represents thenational trend of people slipping through cracks in the mental health system and falling into criminal charges.

“The legal systemhas become an entry point into the mental health system,” Gowensmith said.