Competency evaluation ordered for suspect in NHP trooper’s killing

The man accused in the fatal shooting of a Nevada Highway Patrol trooper last month has been ordered to undergo a competency evaluation, the Las Vegas Review-Journal has learned.

Court documents show that the suspect, identified by authorities as John Dabritz of Ruth, was ordered on April 20 to be examined at Lake’s Crossing Center, a maximum-security psychiatric facility in Sparks. He was originally scheduled to appear in Ely Justice Court on Friday morning for a preliminary hearing in the murder case.

Dabritz, who turned 66 on Tuesday, is charged with open murder, grand larceny of a vehicle, grand larceny of a firearm and third-degree arson in connection with the fatal March 27 shooting of Sgt. Ben Jenkins on U.S. Highway 93, north of Ely.

Authorities have said Jenkins pulled over on the remote highway to check on a stopped motorist, who then opened fire, striking the sergeant multiple times.

The motorist stripped Jenkins of his uniform and firearm, set his pickup truck on fire and fled in the sergeant’s patrol truck, leading to a four-hour manhunt involving at least five Nevada law enforcement agencies and the Utah Highway Patrol.

White Pine County District Attorney Michael Wheable has said prosecutors could decide to seek capital punishment.

During conversations with Dabritz, according to court documents, the man’s defense attorneys, Richard Sears and Kristy Pickering, began to question his “ability to understand the nature and purpose of the court proceedings” or aid them in his defense “with a reasonable degree of rational understanding.”

Dabritz also had repeatedly asked his lawyers to see a psychiatrist.

A request for comment from his attorneys was not immediately returned on Tuesday.

The Review-Journal previously reported that Dabritz had spent the weeks leading up to the killing on a paranoid quest to warn people in White Pine County of his theory that the novel coronavirus was spreading through the water and sewer systems, eventually landing him at William Bee Ririe Hospital in Ely on a legal mental health hold.

A hospital employee, who spoke to the Review-Journal on the condition of anonymity, said the man was initially hospitalized for issues unrelated to his mental health but soon was placed on the legal hold after he brought a “concerning” note to the nurses’ station.

“I told the church in Ely they laughed got kicked out of the water dept for wearing a mask,” he stated in the handwritten note, a copy of which was provided to the Review-Journal. “don’t know why I tried to save this town of dirt bags.”

According to the employee, Dabritz told hospital staff he had $30,000 worth of “illegal untraceable weapons” and “wanted to save us from the suffering of coronavirus.”

The employee said Dabritz was transferred from the hospital around March 14, though the employee was unsure where Dabritz had been taken.

Court documents obtained Tuesday by the Review-Journal show that Dabritz had been admitted to an undisclosed Clark County mental health facility for a week before he was released on March 20, a week before the shooting.

On Tuesday, jail records indicated that Dabritz was still in custody at the White Pine County jail.

Contact Rio Lacanlale at rlacanlale@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0381. Follow @riolacanlale on Twitter.