PORT ANGELES — A prison inmate charged with the 2016 attempted murder of a Clallam Bay Corrections Center officer has been ordered back to a state psychiatric hospital.
Abdinjib Ali Ibraham, 33, was ordered Thursday to undergo a second 90-day period of competency restoration since an August finding that he lacked the mental capacity to understand the second-degree attempted murder charge that was filed against him in June 2018.
Ibraham has been diagnosed with schizophrenia and post-traumatic stress disorder and has a history of using PCP, court papers said.
He is charged with the attempted murder of former Clallam Bay Corrections Center Deputy Terry Breedlove. Breedlove survived the attack on Jan. 25, 2016 but sustained a traumatic brain injury when Ibraham repeatedly struck him in the back of the head with a metal stool, investigators said.
Ibraham was found not competent to stand trial in August 2018, April 2019 and August 2020.
In each case, Ibraham was sent to Western State Hospital to have his competency restored though the administration of anti-psychotic medication and inpatient treatment.
He was deemed competent to stand trial after previous stays at the Tacoma-area psychiatric hospital but his competency deteriorated each time he was sent back to Washington Correction Center near Shelton and stopped taking his medication, prosecutors said.
Ibraham, who is being housed in solitary confinement, is no longer refusing to take his medication, according to prison staff.
Under state law, a defendant must have the capacity to understand the nature of the charges and to assist his or her attorney at trial.
“When we make a finding of competence, it’s never a finding of perpetual competence,” defense attorney Harry Gasnick said in a Thursday court hearing.
“It’s a finding of competence in a very specific moment of time.”
Clallam County Superior Court Judge Brent Basden said he would order a second 90-day period of competency restoration for Ibraham at Western State with language in the order that the treatment “should be expedited as much as possible.”
“The court does have concerns that it takes 9 1/2 months to get a 90-day restoration period,” Basden said, referring to Ibraham’s most recent stay at Western State.
John Hillman, senior assistant state Attorney General who is prosecuting the case, said Western State has a “finite amount of space” in the high security ward where Ibraham will receive treatment.
“I wish I had the authority to put him at the front of the line, and I know that your honor does, too,” Hillman told Basden.
Basden said he would add a provision to his order that prohibits Ibraham from being transferred from Western State back to prison without a court order.
He directed Hillman and Gasnick to draft an order for him to sign in his chambers.
The state Department of Corrections has begun to ween Ibraham off his orally-administered daily medication and administer a monthly dose of injectable medication, Hillman said.
A monthly injection should eliminate the concern for missed or refused doses, Hillman wrote in a Monday memorandum.
“Although Ibraham has a documented history of mental illness, the state is concerned about increasingly frequent statements in WSH evaluations that Ibraham may volitionally present certain symptoms when it suits him,” Hillman wrote.
“The defense expert admits that malingering cannot be ruled out as a source of symptoms that contribute to repeated findings of incompetency.”
In a May 28 assessment, Dr. Barry Ward of Western State Hospital found that Ibraham lacked the ability to rationally assist in his defense or understand his legal peril.
“Mr. Ibraham has a history of medication non-compliance, and articulated that he is not taking medications,” Ward wrote.
“While DOC has procedures in place to assure his compliance, there is mixed data as to whether he is actually taking his medications.
“It is also possible that the isolation of solitary confinement is exacerbating his symptoms,” Ward added.
“I recommend further inpatient restoration to restore his competence.”
Ibraham, who was born in Somalia and immigrated to the United States when he was 10, was convicted in King County of four counts of vehicular assault for striking a vehicle occupied by a family while fleeing from Seattle police.
He is scheduled to be released in that case in October 2022.
Ibraham faces a life sentence if convicted of the attempted murder under the state’s Three Strikes law.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.