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Man Who Led Police On Pursuit Found Incompetent To Stand Trial In Belmont County Case

ST. CLAIRSVILLE -- Guy Brand was found incompetent to stand trial Monday afternoon by Belmont County Common Pleas Judge John Vavra.

Brand was arrested in May following a police pursuit that ended when he allegedly struck a Richland Township police vehicle.

The vehicle Brand was driving allegedly had been stolen in Virginia, where Brand is from.

Brand faces felony charges of vehicular assault, receiving stolen property and failure to comply, along with charges of resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and obstruction. He was ordered to undergo a competency evaluation by Heartland Behavioral Healthcare psychiatrist Timothy Kantz.

Kantz told the court Monday that Brand is currently under his care and has been diagnosed with unspecified psychotic disorder.

"It’s still unclear to what extent it may be due to substance use, or if there may be an element of bipolar disorder. But for the moment, it’s an unspecified psychotic disorder," Kantz said.

Belmont County Assistant Prosecutor Joshua Norman asked Kantz what led to the diagnosis.

Kantz cited Brand's disorganized speech and paranoid, delusional thinking.

"Disorganized speech is rapid hyperverbal speech, jumping from one topic to another, giving excessive detail, not being able to answer questions in a straightforward manner, and talking over others," Kantz said. "Delusional thinking involves everything from going back to when he was living in Virginia, believing that people were infiltrating his house, to paranoid thoughts about the legal system, about the medical system, that essentially lots of different people are kind of out to get him and conspiring against him."

Norman asked about treatment for the disorder.

Kantz said antipsychotic medication generally is the first line of treatment and that he plans to begin Brand on haloperidol.

"It’s a very common and generally very well tolerated antipsychotic medication. We don’t have any knowledge or information or records to indicate that Mr. Brand has been on any antipsychotic medication in the past," Kantz said. "Normally, that would guide decision making. Certainly, if someone had been on a medication that had been helpful, not been helpful, or had negative side effects, that could help guide it. But this is one that I’ll often start with and that’s often effective and tends to have minimal side effects."

Kantz said he would begin Brand on a low dose of 2 to 5 milligrams and adjust it based on his response. He said some patients respond to 5 or 10 milligrams, while others may require higher doses.

A long-acting injectable version of the medication also can be administered once a month, Kantz said.

"I would plan on starting at the lower end, between two to five milligrams and make sure he tolerates it, and that there’s no negative side effects," Kantz said. "Then see how he responds to it, and most likely increase it. I would not expect that the low dose would be enough to be effective, so I would plan to increase from there. But some patients do well on five or ten milligrams. Some need 20 milligrams, or even 30 or 40 milligrams daily."

Kantz said he initially would administer Brand oral tablets. If Brand refuses the medication, Kantz said he could administer it by injection if authorized by the court.

Norman asked Kantz whether he believed medication was necessary based on his experience.

Kantz said Brand currently is refusing treatment because he does not believe he has a mental illness.

"He does not believe that he has any mental illness. He’s unwilling to take any medication, and has serious qualms and questions about his legal situation, and is not engaging in any significant way in work on competency restoration," Kantz said. "He pretty much just shuts down that conversation immediately. He will not discuss it. It does not seem possible to have a rational discussion about those treatment options because again, he believes that he does not have any mental illness and is not in need of any medication."

Vavra then ruled that the state had met its burden of establishing that Brand currently is incapable of standing trial.

The judge granted Heartland Behavioral Healthcare permission to involuntarily administer psychotropic and/or other medications to assist in the competency restoration process.

Vavra said the court believes Brand currently is incompetent but that his competency can be restored over time.