“There is just something manifestly unfair about somebody who does not want to be touched to be forcibly medicated, then charging them because they don’t comply.”
Who benefits?
“It’s a tough situation all around. Who does it help the most? The irony is, it probably helps prosecutors, judges and defense attorneys,” said Brendan Trainor, district attorney for Penobscot County. “It does give us more options to charge somebody.”
Despite this, many district attorney offices and police departments across the state say they have not seen an increase in the number of charges since the law was passed.
Portland Police Department, which services one of the largest hospitals in the state, Maine Medical Center, has only seen four charges since the law was enacted, despite the hospital reporting large numbers of assaults.
Other departments, including in Augusta, Lewiston and Machias, said they had seen little change in the number of charges since the law’s passage.
In Penobscot County, there have been eight charges for assault on emergency medical service personnel since July 2022. The Lewiston Police Department reported six charges between July 2023, when the law was enacted, and this June, and the Augusta Police Department reported four — on par with the 10 and seven charges, respectively, reported in the year prior.
On the other side, McKee, the defense attorney, felt prosecutors already had enough “tools in the toolbox” to charge someone with assault. Unless judges said they were seeing serious offenses that require more serious charges, he said, there was no reason to increase the penalty.
Health care providers emphasized they do not file charges against a person in a mental health crisis, unable to distinguish right from wrong. Once charges are brought, whether a person is competent to stand trial is decided by the state’s forensic evaluators and a judge.
Austin, of the Maine Hospital Association, and hospital staff recognize that violence can be unintentional, especially if it stems from someone with a mental illness.
But that’s not true for all, said Austin.
“And we believe (they) should be held accountable for their decisions.”
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