The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the appeal case of Robert Lewis Dear Jr., the man who allegedly shot and killed three people at a Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood in 2015.

According to court records, a petition for a writ of certiorari to have Dear’s appeal case heard in the U.S. Supreme Court was denied on Monday. The denial to hear the appeal case creates a pathway to have Dear forcibly medicated and potentially stand trial on both federal and state charges.

Dear’s criminal cases have been in limbo for several years after he was found incompetent to stand trial.

U.S. District Judge Robert Blackburn determined in September 2022 that Dear could be forcibly medicated in an attempt to have him stand trial. Dear’s attorneys at the federal level attempted to appeal the ruling, but in June the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Blackburn’s decision.

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In August, Dear’s attorneys filed a motion for rehearing “en banc,” which if granted would have allowed Dear’s attorneys to argue the case a second time in front of the 10th Circuit, but that motion was denied.

Dear’s case has remained in limbo for years awaiting an outcome on the appeal, Monday’s denial puts an end to the appeal case.

“The court’s June 10, 2024 judgment takes effect this date,” the mandate issued Monday by the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reads. “With the issuance of this letter, jurisdiction is transferred back to the lower court.”

At the time of writing there are no scheduled court dates in Dear’s federal case. Attorneys will return to court for Dear’s next status conference in his state case on May 16.

Dear’s status as incompetent has long delayed his cases at the state and federal levels. Dear faces 179 charges in his state-level case; a federal case against Dear in which he faces 68 felony charges was opened in 2019.

Ke’Arre Stewart, Jennifer Markovsky and University of Colorado Colorado Springs police Officer Garrett Swasey died in the November 2015 shooting. Nine other people — five of them law enforcement officers — were wounded during a five-hour standoff.

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

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

Dear is being held at the federal correctional facility in Englewood, according to federal prison inmate records.

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