The man accused of killing three people at a Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood in 2015, Robert Lewis Dear Jr., is set for a hearing in Colorado’s 4th Judicial District Court on Friday morning. Clarity could be provided on the status of his case moving forward at the state level. 

Dear has been awaiting trial since his arrest in 2015, but has continually been found mentally incapable of standing trial halting progress on the possibility of a jury trial. 

Alleged Planned Parenthood shooter Robert Dear won’t be forcibly medicated for now

In 2019, a federal grand jury indicted him on 68 new counts in a bid to get Dear to trial.

In the most recent status conference for Dear in district court, Judge William Bain had the hearing delayed as the court awaited the decision from federal court on whether Dear could be forcibly medicated to stand trial.  

That decision came last week when U.S. District Judge Robert Blackburn in federal court determined that Dear could be forcibly medicated in an attempt to have him stand trial.

However, on Wednesday further news broke from the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that Dear won’t be forcibly medicated after an appeal of Judge Blackburn’s ruling by his defense attorneys. Until the end of the appeal process, Dear can’t be forcibly medicated. 

Alleged Planned Parenthood shooter Robert Dear can be forcibly medicated, judge says

The impact of the decision on the federal level remains unknown for the status of a potential jury trial in Colorado’s 4th Judicial District Court, where Dear faces 179 charges. More could become known at the status conference Friday morning.

On Nov. 27, 2015, Dear is accused of having entered a Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood with an assault rifle, killing three people and injuring nine others. Ke’Arre Stewart, Jennifer Markovsky and University of Colorado at Colorado Springs police Officer Garrett Swasey died at the women’s clinic. Nine other people – five of them law enforcement officers – were wounded during the course of a five-hour standoff.

Dear called himself “a warrior for the babies” during his first court appearance in December 2015 after the killings. He yelled over attorneys at least 15 times.

“I’m guilty – there’s no trial,” Dear said minutes into that initial hearing.

Planned Parenthood shooting suspect Robert Dear hearing delayed as court awaits medication decision