Judge Cameron orders Gary Styer to take medications as prescribed
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
MENOMONIE — A judge in Dunn County Circuit Court has ordered Gary Styer to take medications as prescribed.
Styer, age 52, along with his attorney, Jeremiah Harrelson, appeared in court before Judge Howard W. Cameron Jr. on August 5 for a motion hearing.
Dunn County District Attorney Andrea Nodolf had filed a motion with the court to find Styer incompetent to refuse to take medications as prescribed by doctors at Mendota Mental Health Institute, according to online court records.
Styer was sentenced to life in a mental health institution after pleading not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect last September for the death of his father, Edward Styer of Colfax.
Styer was charged with one felony count of first degree intentional homicide, with the modifiers of use of a dangerous weapon and domestic abuse inflicting physical pain or injury, in the bludgeoning death of his 78-year-old father on January 15, 2020, at the Styer home south of Colfax.
First degree intentional homicide carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison.
Styer has been mute at court hearings, and during the plea and sentencing hearing, Judge Rod Smeltzer asked Styer to hold up placards saying “yes” or “no” to answer questions from the judge.
Judge Smeltzer retired at the end of July.
During the August 5 motion hearing, Harrelson informed the court that Styer contested the motion filed by the district attorney and had requested a hearing.
Harrelson said his concern about the hearing was that Styer only communicates through writing.
Styer indicated to his attorney that he wanted to testify, and Harrelson told Judge Cameron that Styer would write his responses to questions, and Harrelson would read the responses out loud and then offer them as exhibits.
After receiving testimony earlier in the hearing from Dr. Ann Heaslett, a psychiatrist who practices at the Mendota Health Institute, Judge Cameron found Dr. Heaslett to be credible, that Styer is not competent to refuse medications and ordered Styer to take medications as prescribed by the doctor.
Section 971.15 of the Wisconsin Statutes defines not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect, which is also referred to as “NGI.” A defendant can be considered NGI if the defendant lacks the capacity to understand his or her conduct was wrong and is so ill, he or she cannot understand what has been done is illegal. A defendant also can be considered NGI if the person is so ill, he or she cannot control his or her actions.
During the plea and sentencing hearing in September of 2020, when asked if Styer was agreeing with the underlying criminal complaint that he caused the death of his father on January 15, that in the early morning hours he struck his father with a two-by-four repeatedly, causing his death, that he self-reported the incident to a counselor in Eau Claire and that the court is using the admission of facts to accept the NGI plea to first degree intentional homicide — Styer held up the “yes” placard.
According to mental health evaluations, Styer lacked the capacity to conform to the law at the time of the crime, and Styer was suffering from depression and hopelessness to the point where Styer’s perception of reality had been altered, District Attorney Nodolf said at the plea and sentencing hearing
Nodolf said all together, she had reviewed a thousand pages of mental health reports on Gary Styer, who has been hospitalized four times with suicidal ideations or suicide attempts.
Gary Styer has seen numerous mental health professionals dating back to the time he was in his 20s, and there are 30 years of records from mental health professionals, Nodolf had said.
Styer qualified under state statute for the NGI plea, and the state did not have much of a defense against the plea of not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect because Styer has not been faking mental illness for the last 30 years, she said.
At the plea and sentencing hearing last September, Judge Smeltzer noted that he knew Edward Styer and his brothers and sisters.
Judge Smeltzer concluded the sentencing hearing by saying it was one of the hardest hearings he has conducted in his 23 years on the bench.
