By James Mayse
Messenger-Inquirer
OWENSBORO, Ky. — The state Supreme Court has upheld the 20-year sentence of an inmate who attacked and knocked out a guard while incarcerated at Green River Correctional Complex, but later claimed he was mentally ill and incompetent to stand trial.
Jason Anthony Russell was already serving a 30-year sentence at Green River Correctional in Central City for a Fayette County murder conviction when the assault occurred on Aug. 10, 2012. Court records say guards who were investigating reports that Russell had stolen items from another inmate confronted Ellis with an item that didn’t belong to him.
When a guard attempted to handcuff Russell and take him to the Specialized Management Unit, which court records call The Hole, “Russell punched him in the face, knocking him into the cell wall, bloodying him and rendering him temporarily unconscious,” court records say. Russell continued beating the guard until guards were able to subdue him with pepper spray.
Russell was charged with third-degree assault and being a first-degree persistent felony offender. Russell’s public defender notified Muhlenberg Circuit Judge Brian Wiggins that Russell needed to be evaluated for competency to stand trial at Kentucky Correctional Psychiatric Center, as Russell claimed he “had been judged incompetent in a previous civil action,” court records say. Russell presented a 2005 document from Fayette Circuit Court, which said he “becomes incompetent when his medication is altered,” and a set of handwritten doctor’s notes from 1998, which said Russell had “undifferentiated schizophrenia.”
The judge ruled none of the documents were current and set the case for trial. The defense then asked for the trial date to be postponed until the spring of 2013, because an attorney who was representing Russell in a Morgan County case was attempting to arrange funds to have Russell’s competency evaluated by a private facility.
Russell’s public defender in the assault at the prison also said she had not been able to sufficiently prepare for the case, because Russell had been moved from Central City to Kentucky State Penitentiary in Eddyville, which made him inaccessible to consult on the case. Russell’s attorney said she was also preparing for a murder trial, which has taken her away from preparing for Russell’s assault trial.
The judge denied the motion to postpone the trial, and Russell was found guilty of the assault and PFO charges and was sentenced to an additional 20 years in prison. Russell appealed, saying the judge erred by not testing Russell’s competency and by not continuing the trial.
In a ruling issued last week, the Supreme Court ruled Russell had not given Wiggins “any reason to doubt his competency.”
“Instead, (Russell) relies primarily on prior diagnoses of mental illness and a prior pronouncement by a trial judge that he becomes incompetent when not properly medicated,” the Supreme Court noted. While the documents suggested Russell could become incompetent, “there was no accompanying evidence that Russell was not properly medicated at the time of his 2013 trial,” the justices wrote.
Other documents provided by Eastern Kentucky Correctional Complex showed that Russell had been off his medication for two years while there, but remained “cooperative ... (and) his cognition processes were coherent, logical and relevant.” Further, the Fayette County report that said Russell needed his medication to remain competent “was almost three years old at the time he went to trial in 2013,” the justices wrote.
The Supreme Court noted Russell “never even directly alleged that he was not medicated” at the time of his assault trial, and “instead relied on vague inferences from the several years out-of-date documents” to argue he was incompetent.
On the issue of postponing the trial, the justices wrote the best Russell could argue was that his attorney in the Morgan County case “might at a future date have been able to get Russell evaluated,” which the justices called “speculation.” The justices wrote Russell’s public defender in the assault case was based in Madisonville, which is 45 miles from Eddyville -- close enough for the attorney to consult with Russell.
The justices wrote it was "(s)omewhat more troubling” that Russell’s attorney had to meet with Russell via video conferencing while he was incarcerated at Eddyville. But they wrote “when asked whether a continuance would solve this problem .... counsel stated only that she could try to arrange for a private meeting” with Russell. But Russell’s attorney had not attempted to arrange a private meeting with Russell at the prison prior to filing a motion to continue the trial, the justices wrote.
Russell is serving all of his sentences at Kentucky State Penitentiary. He will become eligible for parole in 2028.