Willie Davis Frazier sat behind the visitor’s glass at the
Men’s Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles nearly a year and
a half ago; his white shirt was stained with blood and he rubbed
his hand across his forehead and kept saying he didn’t belong
in jail.
Frazier was arrested and charged in October 2003 for allegedly
assaulting a university police officer during an altercation in
Kerckhoff Hall.
The officer, Terrence Duren, shot Frazier twice in the abdomen
during the incident, saying that Frazier had scratched him during a
scuffle in the Kerckhoff second-floor men’s bathroom and
tried to reach for the officer’s gun.
Frazier has since spent two birthdays in jail without being
convicted of any crime.
Homeless at the time of his arrest, Frazier has not paid his
$500,000 bail and was moved from the Men’s Central Jail to
Patton State Hospital, a mental health facility where prisoners are
held if deemed incompetent to stand trial.
How Frazier wound up at Patton State Hospital is part of his
lengthy and drawn out trial, a string of legal proceedings so long
that lawyers involved in the case joke about it, saying the trial
could continue for years.
Patton State Hospital is a little over an hour-and-a-half drive
east of Westwood and is surrounded by lush green hills and cheap
discount stores and restaurants.
Unlike some prisons in Los Angeles, the buildings are smaller,
low to the ground, and if there wasn’t so much barbed wire
one could easily mistake the prison hospital for a summer camp or
group of office buildings.
Patton is one of two hospitals in California designed to accept
prisoners found incompetent to stand trial and currently houses
1,485 patients.
It is the only prison hospital in California that accepts women,
who account for roughly 25 percent of its patients, and then takes
mostly offenders from Southern California.
Deputy District Attorney Carol Rose, a lawyer in the psychiatric
unit, said Frazier was sent to Patton after he was found
incompetent to stand trial on Dec. 8, 2004.
Frazier’s trial had begun over a year before, but Judge
Katherine Mader, who preceded over the hearings, raised questions
about Frazier’s competency to stand trial several times
during the course of his hearings, said Deputy District Attorney
Frank Tavelman, the lead prosecutor in the case.
When a court official raises questions about a defendant’s
competency, two to three physicians generally examine the defendant
and then a separate court makes a ruling as to whether they can
stand trial, Rose said.
Frazier is now receiving competency training at the hospital and
prosecutors hope that he can soon return to trial, Rose said.
Brad Smith, the assistant program director at Patton said the
hospital employs numerous techniques to help patients gain
competency.
“Our goal is not to assess their competency, but to
address their incompetency,” Smith said.
Each week patients spend approximately 20 hours in
competency-oriented groups, Smith said, including groups that train
patients about the roles of court officials and participants,
groups to understand what patients have been charged with and what
their rights are, and anger management groups, among others.
Most patients are also given medication to help with their
treatment, Smith said.
Ninety days after someone is sent to Patton, the hospital is
required to send a report regarding the patient’s progress
and whether they have been restored to competency.
Frazier’s first report is scheduled for late March, and if
deemed competent he will be returned to regular jail and his trial
will continue. If the report says that he has not yet regained
competency, Frazier will continue at Patton and a new report will
be filed every six months thereafter.
According to the California State Penal Code, Frazier cannot
stay at Patton for more than three years or the length of time
equal to the penalty if he was convicted of his crime, whichever is
shorter.
Speaking from inside the visitor’s station at Patton in
February, Frazier said he was just happy to be out of jail for the
time being.
He wore clean, brown standard-issue clothes from the hospital
and his speech was often haphazard and random.
During Frazier’s preliminary hearing in January 2004,
Officer Duren said he hoped Frazier would receive some sort of
mental help.
John Raphling, Frazier’s public defender at the time, said
Duren, a former university police officer of the year, used
excessive force when arresting Frazier and had a long history of
using excessive violence in past encounters.
During Frazier’s hearing in January, Raphling said there
is a long history of complaints against Duren and that university
police have looked the other way.
“I wonder where the outrage is about an officer who shot
an unarmed man who was trying to get away from him,” Raphling
commented about the Frazier trial in January 2004.
Raphling also added that Duren was given a notice of termination
from UCLA on Aug. 16, 1990, a hearing was held and Duren retained
his job but served a 90-day suspension.
Raphling also said in January 2004 that Duren testified under
oath that he had been fired from the Long Beach police
department.
Late Monday night, Duren said he didn’t know too much
about Frazier’s trial right now and that he had put the
incident out of his mind.