His attorneys and members of the family have lengthy argued that Merryman is a psychiatric casualty of struggle, not a prison, and that he belongs in a remedy facility, not a jail. After months of courtroom wrangling, federal prosecutors and the chief decide of U.S. District Court docket in Maryland now seem to concur with the protection, based mostly on an settlement finalized this week with Merryman and his important lawyer.
“I’m a really, very, very comfortable mother,” Merryman’s mom, Terry Bryant, stated Tuesday from her house in Independence, Kan., within the southeastern nook of the state. “I informed his lawyer: ‘You went up towards the federal government and also you received! Try to be happy with your self!’ Lastly, Scott goes to get the assistance he wants.”
The U.S. legal professional’s workplace in Maryland declined to touch upon the deal.
Underneath the “deferred prosecution” settlement, filed in courtroom Tuesday, the U.S. legal professional’s workplace agreed to place off prosecuting Merryman for as much as 36 months. Within the meantime, Merryman can be launched from incarceration Thursday and instantly start receiving inpatient remedy at a personal psychological well being facility. The settlement consists of provisions barring him from possessing weapons, consuming intoxicants, disrupting his remedy or “partaking in prison exercise,” together with threatening anybody.
The prison case towards him might resume if he breaks the settlement.
If Merryman “has efficiently glad the necessities of this settlement,” he can request to be launched early, after 24 months, from mandated psychological well being remedy and supervision. Supplied he cooperates in remedy and abides by different guidelines — whether or not he stays in remedy for 36 or 24 months — the fees towards him can be dismissed “with prejudice,” that means they might not be refiled. He was charged in an indictment with threatening to hurt the president and making threats in interstate communication, every punishable by as much as 5 years in jail.
Since his return from deployment with the Military’s 82nd Airborne Division in 2008, Merryman’s life has been marred by melancholy, guilt, outbursts of rage, “intrusive recollections,” alcohol abuse, opioid habit, failed relationships, self-isolation and suicide makes an attempt, in line with tons of of pages of psychological well being data reviewed by The Washington Submit. He was initially identified with PTSD in 2009, after what the Military stated had been his “a number of exposures to fight,” and was honorably discharged based mostly on his incapacity.
Through the years, in counseling with psychological well being professionals on the Division of Veterans Affairs, Merryman has stated he’s most haunted by a firefight with insurgents in an Afghan village through which he mistakenly machine-gunned a small lady.
After greater than a decade of debilitating emotional illnesses, Merryman suffered a psychotic breakdown late final 12 months through which he grew to become obsessive about the Bible’s E book of Revelation, believing he was a God-anointed prophet of the world’s remaining days, in line with mates and family members. Quickly afterward, he set out for the nation’s capital.
After his drugs had been adjusted following his arrest, the delusions went away, though the PTSD remained, his attorneys stated. From the start, they argued that he must be positioned in a psychological well being facility for PTSD remedy whereas he awaited a trial, at which they supposed to argue that he was not responsible by purpose of momentary madness. However prosecutors and Chief Decide James Okay. Bredar insisted {that a} defendant accused of threatening to kill the president must be saved behind bars below tight safety.
Merryman’s lead legal professional, Sedira Banan, stated her shopper’s good habits and obvious psychological stability whereas in federal custody in latest months — together with evaluations carried out by authorities psychological well being specialists — modified the minds of prosecutors and the decide, who agreed that Merryman could possibly be launched to get remedy in a personal facility. Banan declined to remark additional on the settlement.
