Man suspected of wounding Arkansas sheriff's deputy ruled unfit for trial

WALDRON -- A circuit judge ruled Tuesday that a man charged with shooting and wounding a deputy in December was mentally unfit to stand trial despite the man's insistence on having his day in court.

Scott County Circuit Judge Jerry Don Ramey signed an order after the hearing declaring 48-year-old David Bentley unfit to proceed to trial and committing him to the custody of the Arkansas Department of Human Services "for detention, care and treatment until restoration of fitness to proceed."

The Department of Human Services is to report back to Ramey in 10 months on whether Bentley's mental disease or defect will not allow him to be restored to fitness for trial and whether he presents a danger to himself or to the person or property of others, the order said.

Ramey said in court he would review Bentley's status Dec. 4.

Bentley is charged with first-degree battery and aggravated assault. He is accused of shooting and wounding Scott County Deputy Stacy Wieburg in the arm when Wieburg responded to a report of an intoxicated man driving in circles at the intersection of Imogene and Nella roads near Waldron. Bentley also is accused of shooting at other officers who arrived on the scene.

Bentley said in court Tuesday that he was the victim of assault on his own property.

Ramey made the ruling after hearing testimony from psychologist Paul Deyoub, who conducted a mental evaluation on Bentley last month and diagnosed him as delusional, paranoid, "persecutory type."

Deyoub testified at the brief hearing while Bentley sat at the defense table wearing an orange jail jumpsuit, handcuffs and leg shackles next to court-appointed attorney Paul Younger of Fayetteville.

Deyoub said he had examined Bentley and determined that Bentley did not meet the basics for going to trial. Bentley could not understand the proceedings against him and could not assist his attorney in his defense, Deyoub said.

Bentley could understand the roles of the judge, prosecutor and jury, Deyoub said, but he became delusional when the charges against him were brought up. His delusions would not allow him to challenge the witnesses against him and he could not testify on his own behalf because he couldn't rationally talk about the charges, Deyoub said.

Bentley made comments as Deyoub testified during the hearing. He said "no facts, no facts" when Deyoub spoke about his reasons for the diagnosis of delusions. When Deyoub said there was no way Bentley was related to the British royal family, Bentley said, "I am."

Bentley had told Deyoub during the evaluation and a judge at his initial court appearance after his arrest that he was related by blood to President Donald Trump, that he was in the bloodline of the British royal family, and that he was the last of the Romanovs, the Russian family of Czar Nicholas II.

He claimed that the FBI was involved in the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center, that the agency investigated him and his family because of his royal bloodline and that the whole story about the World Trade Center attacks involved him, Deyoub's report said.

Younger also asked Deyoub to substantiate Bentley's diagnosis, but Deyoub said there were no tests to confirm Bentley's delusions.

He relied on his observations of Bentley's statements and behavior when talking about the charges against him.

In a three-page handwritten statement he read to Ramey, Bentley said Deyoub should be charged with obstruction of justice for not allowing him to read during the evaluation interview the entire transcript of his initial court appearance in December.

Bentley called the transcript a fraud because, he said, it made him appear incoherent and incompetent. He said he was not allowed to proofread the transcript entirely, and that there were typographical errors and other mistakes in the portions he read and that he should have had an opportunity to correct it.

Arguing against his incompetence, Bentley said he worked as an espionage agent nationally and internationally for several government agencies.

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State Desk on 07/18/2018

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