Robert Deere, the man accused of killing three people at a Colorado Planned Parenthood clinic in 2015 because it offered abortion services, has died in federal prison, the Federal Bureau of Prisons confirmed Tuesday.
Deere died Saturday at a medical center for federal prisoners in Springfield, Missouri, the Bureau of Prisons said. Dear, 67, died of natural causes, said Christy Breshears, an agency spokeswoman.
Dear, who was indicted in federal court in 2019, has become embroiled in a legal battle over whether he can be treated for his mental illness, delusional disorder, against his will. He was repeatedly found incompetent to stand trial, which stalled his prosecution. He was most recently prosecuted by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, said 4th Judicial District Attorney Michael J. Allen, whose office tried to prosecute Dear in state court.
The Associated Press left a voicemail with the federal public defender's office in Colorado seeking comment. A spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office declined to comment Tuesday.
Last year resolution The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the federal judge's decision order from 2022 it will be possible to involuntarily treat Dear so that he is healthy enough to stand trial. Deere's lawyers argued that the side effects could worsen Deere's health problems, such as untreated high blood pressure and high cholesterol.
Dear called himself a “baby warrior.” Federal prosecutors alleged he armed himself with several handguns, propane tanks and 500 rounds of ammunition and fired shots outside the clinic before punching through the door.
Ke'Arre Stewart, 29, an Army veteran who served in Iraq and was a father of two, and Jennifer Markowski, 36, a mother of two who grew up in Oahu, Hawaii, were accompanying friends to the clinic before they were killed. Garrett Swasey, a police officer on a nearby college campus, responded after learning of an active shooter and was also killed. Nine more people were injured.
“All three victims and this community deserved the full measure of justice in this case, but now they are denied that opportunity,” Allen said.
