Feature Story-Austin

It was supposed to be a simple 72 hour mental health hold.

Little did Abel Laeke, 34, know that those 72 hours would turn into eight long years of him being trapped, languishing at the Colorado Mental Health Institute at Pueblo as his case wound its way through the judicial system all the way to the Colorado Supreme court.

Laeke doesn’t deny that he was experiencing signs of mental illness that January afternoon in 2004 when he was initially admitted to Denver General Hospital. He said he had been up for two days with racing thoughts and was beginning to experience delusions and paranoia.

 Growing concerned about his bizarre and erratic behavior, his parents confronted him and he got into a scuffle with his brother at the family run liquor store in Denver. His parents called the police and he was transported to the psychiatric ward at Denver General Hospital.

 What happened next would be the foundation of a long, complex criminal complaint that has cost a young man the best years of his life. Laeke has spent far more time incarcerated at the CMHIP fighting his case then he ever would have been if, in the worst case scenario, he had simply went to trial and lost to the original charges he incurred.

 While on the psychiatric unit at Denver General it is alleged that Laeke exposed himself to a female nurse and attempted to grab her hand and shove it into his groin.

Dr. Tracy Richards, a psychology instructor at CSU, said that the common perception of bi-polar disorder is people simply cycle between feeling good and bad. She said it’s a lot more severe than that.

“People in a manic state can have feelings of invincibility which goes along with and increase in risky behaviors,” Richards said. “This includes being sexually promiscuous, using substances and risky driving.”

Richards also said in extreme cases that a psychotic state can occur. People in this state can experience hallucinations, paranoia and delusional thinking. 

Denver General discharged him three weeks after being admitted.  Laeke walked outside and was promptly arrested by Denver police officers. He was charged with indecent exposure and attempted sexual contact.

“I didn’t know what was going on. I didn’t remember much of those prior weeks but when they told me what happened I knew that the allegations were false,” Laeke explained.

 He refused to talk to the police and was issued a Public Defender. For 14 months Laeke was shuttled back and forth between the Denver County Jail and the CMHIP. Against his objections his public defender wanted to make his mental state at the time of the alleged crime a key part of his defense. 

He thought it was in Laeke’s best interest to spend time at the state hospital on a Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity adjudication.

The state had two different psychologists evaluate him to determine his mental state at the time of the alleged crime. Dr. Susan Pinto said he was insane at the time. Dr. Paul Mattox, who testifies on behalf of the state of Colorado, said he couldn’t determine one way or another Mr. Laeke’s mental state.

The legal proceedings around insanity are a complex issue that varies greatly from state to state.  

Under Colorado law, a person may be found Not Guilty By Reason of Insanity if:

-The person is so diseased or defective in mind at the time of the commission of the act as to be incapable of distinguishing right from wrong with respect to the act.

-The person suffers from a condition of mind caused by mental disease or defect that prevented the person from forming a culpable mental state that is an essential element of a crime charged

The reasoning behind these laws is that if a person is so severely mentally ill, i.e suffering from hallucinations or delusions brought on by schizophrenic or bi-polar mania that they can’t tell what’s real or not real, then they can’t be held responsible if they commit a crime while in this impaired state.

Persons adjudicated Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity are committed to the Colorado Department of Human Services to receive in-patient forensic care and treatment at the CMHIP. Under Colorado law they will remain there until they’re deemed to be not only sane, but no longer a threat to themselves or others.

 Denver defense lawyer Shaun Kaufman said that in a lot of cases, people who chose an NGRI plea will do more time incarcerated in a mental institution than they would have if they had just plea-bargained or went to trial and been sentenced on the original charges.

 “The insanity plea is something every lawyer studies in law school,” explained Kaufman. “Really the only time you want to go that route is if you’re facing a murder charge or something extremely serious like that.”

At a final court hearing Mar. 18, 2005 Laeke remembers his public defender conferring with Denver district attorney Katie O’Brian. He said he felt like he was being left out of the loop in the decision making process. His public defender and the district attorney both agreed that a NGRI plea was in everyone’s’ best interest.

Before being sentenced, the judge gave Laeke a chance to speak on his own behalf.  His choice of words would prove to be his saving grace when he filed an appeal three years later.

“I disagree with these charges and want to prove my innocence at trial.”

The judge remanded Laeke to be held at the CMHIP until it was determined he was no longer a threat to himself or others.

“I was in shock. It was like a bad dream,” Laeke said of the feelings he had as he was being led out of the courtroom.

Once at CMHIP he spent almost 2 ½ years moving between maximum and medium security units. “I was bewildered the entire time. I feared I was going to be warehoused the rest of my life,” Laeke said. At least with jail you know when you will be released. Here it’s one day to the rest of your life. 

You can conceivably be locked up for a decade or more.”

He said he tried to keep his morale high by talking to his family and staying active. Fighting the monotony of a long term commitment on a psychiatric unit was a challenge.

Wake up every morning at 6:15 a.m for breakfast. Medications at 8 a.m. To keep patients from returning to their rooms to sleep, hospital staff required them to stay in the day hall and socialize during the day. Throughout the week there would be the occasional groups, like anger management or small classes on the importance of taking medication. 

The highlight of the week would be when his ward would be escorted to the gym to play basketball or work out.  Laeke said he would count the weeks and months by what meals were served in the dining hall. Once every few weeks the ward would be allowed to order out from a nearby pizza joint.

”I didn’t always have money in my account to order out,” said Laeke. “But it was something to look forward to (ordering pizza) when I did.”

  He often time passed the day listening to his headphones and pacing up and down the hallway on his unit.

   

The weeks turned into months. The months slowly bled into years.

“I knew something was wrong the entire time. Something was wrong that they could send me down here when I objected.”

Laeke said this scenario is something he would never have imagined happening. Both his parents are immigrants from Ethiopia. Although he was born in Ethiopia, he became a US citizen at a young age.  Growing up, his parents owned a number of small, successful businesses in and around Denver. He attended high school at Gateway High School in Aurora. Laeke was accepted to CU Boulder in 1996 and graduated in 2000 with a degree in Kinesiology.

After graduation he worked as a physical trainer at Bally’s Total Fitness. At the time of his initial arrest he was helping his parents run their liquor store. He had been admitted once before to Denver General Hospital for a psychiatric evaluation.

In 2007 Laeke was moved to a minimum security unit where he had limited access to a computer. He began researching his case and filed an appeal in 2008. Shortly thereafter he was assigned an attorney to represent him.

At the heart of his argument was that he was denied due process and right to a fair trial under the sixth amendment. The court had to decide if an NGRI plea could be entered over the objections of the defendant.

In August of 2009 his case went to court of appeals. That November, Laeke got a call from his attorney, saying the court ruled in his favor and his NGRI was overturned.

“I was elated,” said Laeke. “Everyone, even the doctors and treatment providers, were congratulating me. I started making plans to move back to Denver.”

His joy was short lived. The state Attorney General filed a request for the Colorado Supreme Court to hear the case. Laeke also stopped taking his medications and began to show signs of bi-polar mania.

Dr. Richards said this it is not uncommon for people with bi-polar to refuse medication. She said sometimes a person can be in denial that they are mentally ill. Other times, they remember the feelings of invincibility from the manic state and want to return to that state. 

The CMHIP filed a motion saying that Laeke was still a threat to himself or others and shouldn’t be released while the Colorado Supreme Court decided whether or not to hear his case. He was regressed back to a medium security unit. For the first time, he started to question his belief he didn’t have a mental illness.

“I was really concerned about my mental health,” said Laeke. “I was really sick for four or five months until the court ordered me to take medications.”

For the next eight or nine months he started working with a psychiatrist to find the right combination of medications to keep his mental illness in check.

So for two long years after his NGRI was overturned Laeke continued his stay at the CMHIP. Two more years of pacing the hallways with other patients and being moved to different units in the hospital.  In November of 2011 the Colorado Supreme Court heard his case. Laeke said he expects a ruling any week now.

He remains optimistic they’ll agree with the lower court and overturn his NGRI. He plans on moving back to Denver and getting his life back on track.

If the Supreme Court overrules the lower court, it will be another long wait as Laeke works his way through the treatment program at CMHIP once again.