PORT ANGELES — A competency evaluation has been ordered for a prison inmate charged with the attempted murder of a Clallam Bay Corrections Center officer in January 2016.
Abdinjib A. Ibraham, 30, pleaded not guilty June 29 to second-degree attempted murder for a brutal attack on Corrections Officer Terry Breedlove that left the lawman with traumatic brain injury.
Ibraham used a metal stool seat to repeatedly and forcibly beat Breedlove in the head on the morning of Jan. 25, 2016, Clallam County Sheriff’s Sgt. Ed Anderson alleged in court documents.
Breedlove, 53, of Forks was found unconscious face down in a pool of blood on the morning of the attack, according to the affidavit for probable cause.
He has since been diagnosed with concussive syndrome and a traumatic brain injury, Anderson said.
A one-week trial is scheduled to commence Sept. 24 in Clallam County Superior Court.
The trial is subject to a mental health evaluation that will determine whether Ibraham has the capacity to understand the proceedings against him and to assist in his own defense, court papers said.
The evaluation was ordered Aug. 10.
A Friday status conference was rescheduled for Sept. 7 after defense attorney Harry Gasnick reported that the evaluation was still pending.
Gasnick, the Clallam Public Defender director, told Superior Court Judge Christopher Melly that the case involves a large amount of discovery and that doctors’ schedules would need to be coordinated, according to the minutes of the hearing.
Dr. Kenneth Muscatel, a court-appointed defense psychiatrist, will be present for the evaluation at the Washington Corrections Center in Mason County, where Ibraham is being held on a prior conviction.
Ibraham was sentenced in King County on four counts of vehicular assault, driving under the influence, second-degree taking a motor vehicle and first-degree robbery.
He is scheduled to be released in that case in 2021.
The attempted murder case is being prosecuted by Assistant State Attorney General John Hillman.
Second-degree attempted murder is punishable by a maximum of life in prison and a $50,000 fine.
Breedlove was working alone in Clallam Bay Corrections Center’s G unit when he was struck in the back of head with a six-pound stool at about 9:15 a.m. on Sept. 25, 2016, according to Anderson’s arrest narrative.
Ibraham had returned to the medium-security unit after spending time in solitary confinement for an altercation with another corrections officer.
Unit G houses about 90 felony offenders who were free to move around when Breedlove was attacked, Anderson said.
“Ibraham used the metal stool seat to beat Officer Breedlove in the head repeatedly and with as much force as he could muster,” Anderson said in a May 31 declaration.
Other inmates came to Breedlove’s aid, investigators have said.
While being checked into the prison’s Intensive Management Unit, Ibraham was alleged to have said: “Guy I hit wasn’t even the one that had it coming, but you all the same and I couldn’t wait.
“I was going for the kill,” Ibraham was also alleged to have said.
“I know what I am doing. I will kill you, one of you mess with me, I will get one of you.”
Ibraham admitted to his father and uncle that he had hit a corrections officer with a piece of metal in recorded telephone conversations about month after the attack, Anderson said.
Ibraham’s cell was the only cell with a missing stool seat, Anderson said.
Breedlove was treated for numerous injuries to his head and face at Forks Community Hospital and Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.
“Medical intervention was necessary to prevent death or further brain damage,” Anderson said in the affidavit.
“Doctors drilled holes in Breedlove’s skull to drain the blood from his cranium and relieve the pressure on his brain.
“Medical records indicate that from the brain injury suffered during the assault, Breedlove continues to suffer permanent memory loss, headaches, blurred vision and impairment of balance,” Anderson said.
________
Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56450, or at rollikainen@peninsula dailynews.com.