State Fighting Lawsuit Regarding Mentally Ill Competency Evaluations

Washington is fighting efforts to get a federal judge to rule against the state in a lawsuit claiming mentally ill people are waiting too long for competency evaluations.

The federal lawsuit says holding people for weeks or months while they wait for evaluations is unconstitutional. The state already faces more than $200,000 in fines levied by state judges for failing to provide the treatment.

Lawyers for the defendants filed a motion for summary judgment ahead of a March trial and an assistant attorney general responded last week by saying some of the waits are excessive and indefensible but said in some cases, the defendants are getting evaluations or treatment within days. He urged the judge to deny the summary judgment.

Lawyers for the defendants fought back on Friday by saying any waits longer than seven days are unacceptable.