Yoder to stand trial for attempted murder

CHESTER, Ill. -- When Rodney Yoder was transferred out of Chester Mental Health Center a month ago after 12 years of involuntary commitment, he said he was putting the small Southern Illinois community behind him forever.

Instead, Yoder will stand trial there in July for attempted first-degree murder, aggravated battery and possession of a weapon by a felon, a Randolph County judge ruled Tuesday after a preliminary hearing.

Prosecutors say that three years ago, Yoder attacked another patient with a sock filled with batteries. Yoder claims he was acting in self-defense. If found guilty, Yoder faces up to 30 years in prison.

Yoder garnered national attention last year when he put "psychiatry on trial" during his commitment hearing in December. Prior to that, Time magazine, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the Chicago Tribune all ran articles about his commitment. Patch Adams, an internationally known physician and movie subject, counts himself among Yoder's supporters.

In the past, Yoder assaulted two women -- one a girlfriend and one an ex-wife. While incarcerated, he wrote more than 130 threatening letters to public officials and celebrities threatening them, though he now claims that was done so he would be transferred.

The jury in December found Yoder still suffers from delusions and could be dangerous to himself or others.

'It's discriminatory'

On Tuesday, Yoder was driven to Chester's health center -- the state's maximum-security facility for the criminally insane -- from Elgin Mental Health Center, where he was transferred in early April.

Yoder and his lawyer, Randy Kretchmar, argued that the attempted murder charges are a vendetta.

"It's an act of animus," said Kretchmar. "It's discriminatory and an abuse of prosecutorial power. It has nothing to do with honest discretion."

Kretchmar argued there are fights in the Chester facility every day and "none of them are ever prosecuted." Kretchmar also questioned why Illinois assistant state's attorney Michael Burke waited three years to file the charges.

Burke would not comment why charges weren't filed earlier.

"All I'll say is that there is no statute of limitations for these charges," he said. "It is within my jurisdiction."

The state's only witness at the preliminary hearing was Brian Thomas, administrative assistant at the Chester center. He testified that on April 26, 2000, at about 10:30 p.m., Yoder filled a tube sock with batteries from his stereo and went to a telephone where another "recipient" -- called that because they are recipients of treatment -- had his back to Yoder.

"He struck him with it," Thomas said. "He stated that he had done that three or four times."

The recipient suffered serious injuries to the back of his head, Thomas said. While guards, called security therapy aides, restrained Yoder, Yoder said he wanted to kill the man, Thomas said.

Thomas testified Yoder also told a clinical psychologist the next day that he wanted to kill the man.

Kretchmar called Thomas' testimony into question because Thomas was not at the center that night. Thomas said he gathered the information from other workers and reports.

'They want me silenced'

Yoder, however, said that it was a clear act of self-defense. He said the man threatened him first, and Yoder was told by staff members to "handle it" himself.

"They're just doing anything to deprive me of my liberty," Yoder said. "They want me silenced. They know if I'm in prison, I can't move forward on any lawsuit."

Circuit Judge Dennis B. Doyle of Monroe County presided over the preliminary hearing and will be the judge for the trial, which is expected to start July 14.

Doyle was assigned the case after Yoder asked for substitution of the two judges who serve in Randolph County on grounds of prejudice. Doyle also granted Burke's request that Yoder be denied bail, something that would be a factor only if Yoder were to be released from Elgin when his 90-day commitment expires the first week of June.

Kretchmar argued that Yoder isn't dangerous and that his recent transfer to a less-secure facility shows the state doesn't consider him a threat.

Yoder had been at Chester Mental Health Center since 1991, one of the few people to be involuntarily committed there that long.

smoyers@semissourian.com

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