Accused cop-killer Daniel Butts ready for trial, prosecutors say
ST. HELENS, Ore. – Accused cop-killer Daniel Butts was back in a courtroom Wednesday, more than a year after a judge ruled he was sane enough to stand trial.
Butts is charged with murdering Rainier, Ore. Police Chief Ralph Painter in 2011.
Judge Ted Grove originally decided in February 2012 that Butts was competent to stand trial for murder, but later decided Butts required further evaluation.
Prosecutors wanted the judge to see Wednesday that Butts is ready for trial and that he’s very aware of what he’s involved in. They said even though Butts has shown frantic and manic behavior in the past, it all stopped when he got to the Oregon State Hospital.
Butts sat quietly in court, holding his head in his hands at times. He wore two stun devices during the competency hearing; two deputies had fingers on remote triggers.
Stephanie Lopez, the psychiatrist who evaluated Butts for three weeks at the state hospital, said he did not show the typical signs of mental health problems.
“It shows that he recognizes he’s there for legal and criminal charges,” Lopez said. “It shows he has an awareness of what might happen, or possibly could happen.”
Lopez said she heard Butts on the phone telling his attorney that he did not want the death penalty; he wanted to do his time at the state hospital.
“I know his thoughts are clear, because he did communicate with us. He communicated very well,” said Lopez. "We set up monitoring 24 hours a day. We have the staff charting on an hourly basis."
Butts’ attorneys, however, claim he’s pre-disposed to mental health problems because he was born prematurely, had a head injury that could aggravate schizophrenia, and he has relatives who have mental health issues. They told the judge Butts would not answer any of their questions about what was happening today. Instead, he asked if he could have a basketball and said he needed to see a doctor.
Butts’ attorneys said if there is a trial, they want it moved out of Columbia County.
The hearing is expected to last through Thursday.
I know Daniel and his mother. Â It's too bad he had to grow into her genes. He did inherit her mental illness.
@Will                                                                                                                                                              No one wants to talk about the mental illness in his family. Painter is painted as a god among men and Daniel is portrayed worse than any serial killers in recent history. I do not think it's possible for him to get a fair trial, anywhere. It's unspeakably sad. Neither family will ever be the same.
Let the electricity set him free.
Better get a real governor first. Kitz doesn't have the balls for it.
@Beergod The last execution by electric chair in the US was in 2008
Try him, convict him, execute him, will do wonders for his "mental health" problems
@Tonk I agree his trial should be speedy and his sentence should  be long.  We all know he shot Chief Painter.  He does not appear to be paying attention to what is going on around him,  need to start every court day with a punch in the face.  Lets not forget this lowlife was not having any mental health issues before his arrest.  He is just another loser  dope fiend that needs to be permanantly removed from our society.
@Siwash How do you know he was not having any mental health issues before ? Did you live by him or any of his family ? Are you an expert on mental health ? Just because he was not a blithering idiot doesn't mean he was "sane". From what I read at the time his family did try to get him help. He was over 18. You can't force someone over 18 to get help and doctors or the police cannot do anything until the person either hurts themselves or someone else.
@Just say'n @Siwash OK.
http://www.mentalhealthportland.org/?p=15646
@Siwash @Just say'n Nowhere did it say Butts was or ever had carried a hand gun. Painter was shot with his own gun that he did not have control of and was wrested away from him in the tussle with Butts. Nowhere did it ever say there was any physical confrontations he had with anyone else. If he had had the rep of being a bully or a fighter I'm sure the cops and newspapers would have played it up.
@Just say'n @Siwash This guy sits in court in a near catatonic state, barely capable of walking from his cell to court on his own.  Not like before he KILLED a good and honest man for no reason.  That was when he was walking, driving, scoring meth, carring a handgun, breaking into stores etc...  I think it is all an act and can't wait to see his azz thrown in jail.
If he fools the courts into a mental ward! It shows how low and dumb our court system is. I went to school with a guy who shot a bank teller in the head after she did what he asked her to do. He started playing dumb, and fooled the court system. He has been in a mental ward for twenty years now and may soon be let go. No surprise here. Dr. Rawdog, there is no remorse in this bag of s...!! Â
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You assume a professional knows how to handle a situation and defuse it, but that didn't happen. Butts didn't go there intending to kill Painter, he had no weapon until the situation was escalated and he managed to get Painter's gun. Heat of the moment, it wasn't planned. There were a lot of building blocks that led up to the outcome and I think the biggest one at the bottom was mental health and lack there of. It's hard enough to get mental health for someone who wants it, but impossible for someone over 18 who doesn't think they have a problem.
Your analogy is why we need to have the ability to carry guns to protect ourselves. Because even the pros cannot deal with all the wackos out there. We are left to our own devices to often when even seemingly simple verbal exchanges escalate because the menatlly ill one is having an "episode". I don't care if they were born an idiot with the mind of a two year old at the age of 30. They threaten you with physical violence - they need to get the business end of the gun. Becuse they are menatlly ill they get a pass to do harm? Not in my world. If you intentionally take a life - regardless of your age or mental state - your should never - ever walk again among free people.
Sounds like he killed a peace keeper not so much a trigger happy cop
At least he was not a felon with a gun
@Bert No he was a druggie with no brains and Ralph was to easy going and trusted people!
The only mental illness that Daniel Butts suffers from is being a raging coward. The curtain is gone, and the judge and mental health physicians can see what the true intent of this whole circus is, to avoid punishment for killing in cold blood a man with 10,000 x the character that he possesses. While I can see being under the influence of drugs being relevent, it in NO way excuses the actions of this meat stick.Â
Sack up, scumbag. Stand there and take your just deserts for the actions you committed.Â
@MarkKpic Hear, Hear!!! The sad part is that he will be a hero in prison and that is the part that sucks.
Lets get this trail over so the family and friends can move on!
lock him up and throw away the key
Hope he's ready for execution too !
Nah, not gonna happen in Oregon. Even this scumbag wants it, our ungovernable governer doesn't let it happen.
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@TheUglyTruth Do you often hate how the US Constitution stands in your direct path by blocking so many of your 'justifiable' solutions?  Pesky laws and rules and stuff. Â
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@TheUglyTruth Well, there's that whole "cruel and unusual punishment" thing.