The text below is from a friend of mine in Frederick County, Maryland. She was done wrong, way wrong, by the justice system there:
On Monday, May 13, Frederick County District Court judge Dino Flores, and attorney Marjorie DiLima collaborated to release guns back to my violently mentally ill husband. Together, they silenced, objected, and dismissed the facts of the story of how my husband went from a happy, peaceful man on July 26, 2023, to a man who now sleeps with an ax by his bed, expecting the house to be raided every night by people who want to kill him.
Mental illness is a complex problem, with many faces. I have learned much about it over the past few months, reading and consulting with psychiatrists, therapists, mental health support groups, and even nationally known expert, Dr. Javier Amador. While my experience is among the most extreme, I expected that I would be heard fairly and completely. That did not happen. Even when provided with a recorded admission by my husband of shooting at people in our neighborhood, the judge chose to re-arm a dangerous, delusional man. In his statement from the bench, he acknowledged that he may be releasing a potential killer, and that his name could be “splashed all over the headlines” as the judge who allowed it to happen.
A week earlier, at my request, Frederick Health Hospital evaluated the mental health of my husband. They were informed that shootings had occurred, and were provided with a detailed log of the irrational behaviors that I have observed since July. For reasons they cannot share with me due to HIPAA laws, they interviewed and released him untreated, within a few short hours.
This has been heart-breaking and personally devastating for me. I have had to leave my home, my farm, my pets, and the man I cherished for 12 years. After months of direct conversation proved unable to get him the help he needs, I resorted to legal means. This was my last resort, and it too has failed my husband, myself, and the safety of the community.
People of Frederick County, be aware and be safe. Keep your eyes open to danger. Mental illness is on the rise, and we live in a system that scarcely knows how to identify and treat its most destructive forms.