Criminal Charges and Mental Health

One of the increases legal issues that I see in present day society is the increased rate of arrest with people who have mental illness.  

You might have heard of Matthew Rushin, a 22-year-old who was arrested for hit and run motor vehicle accident in Virginia Beach, Virginia. He was diagnosed with a mental illness and acquitted of the charges. But, just think about the use of taxpayers' money for the arrest, imprisoning of Rushin, and district attorney time for trying the case. 

This post isn’t about money, but more so on how to deal with law enforcement and the court system with someone who has mental illness. One of the issues you must understand when it come to this is that not everyone is a psychologist and/or psychiatrist. You will have to do the educating of the law enforcement agency, the prosecutor, and the judge.  

Too many times, individuals think that everyone has the same level of knowledge about mental illness, let alone a specific one.  

If you or a love is detained by law enforcement, it is important to remain calm and explain any mental illness that might have a DIRECT influence on the arrest. This is very key. If you just explain that a person has a mental illness with schizophrenia and the police officer is arresting them for smoking marijuana, you might have a problem.  

Secondly, if a person is arrested and detained, it is important to obtain legal counsel and explain to them the dept of the mental illness. Your legal counsel is your representative to the court system, e.g., judge, jury, and prosecutor. Most of the time, the prosecutor will understand if (1) there is a serious documented mental illness issue present, and (2) that mental illness has a direct impact on the charge at hand.  

Lastly, if the case makes it to trial it is important to provide as much information to your attorney about the mental illness as possible. Your attorney will know the proper documentation to file before the courts.  

~ Attorney Ronnie O’Brien Rice  









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