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Judge Sends Tampa Officer's Killer Back To Mental Hospital

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By TOM BRENNAN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 26, 2008

Updated: 09/26/2008 04:18 pm

TAMPA - When Carlos Bello takes his medication, no one questions his mental competence.

But prosecutors say that every time he faces being sentenced for killing one Tampa police officer and wounding one in an aborted drug bust in July 1981, he stops taking the medicine.

Prosecutors were unable to persuade Hillsborough Circuit Judge Ronald Ficarrotta today to proceed with imposing punishment, continuing more than 20 years of legal yo-yoing.

"The burden is on the state to prove the defendant's present ability to be competent," Ficarrotta said. "I find insufficient evidence at this time."

Experts contacted by The Tribune say there is not much the state can do to force an inmate to take medication.

Bello was convicted and sentenced to death in 1987 for killing Detective Gerald Rauft and shooting Detective Robert Ulriksen. The Florida Supreme Court upheld the conviction in 1989 but overturned the sentence. Bello has been found incompetent repeatedly since then and confined at various institutions, the latest being Florida State Hospital in Chattahoochee.

Doctors there and a psychologist and psychiatrist hired by the state attorney's office in August said Bello was malingering and only shows symptoms when forced to discuss his crime.

"He has the capacity to be competent, but he chooses not to be," State Attorney Darrell Dirks said.

Tampa psychiatrist Bala Rao, called by Bello's defense, testified today that Bello has a 35-year history of chronic mental illness and has been diagnosed as schizophrenic. He said that since being moved from the state hospital to the Hillsborough County Jail, Bello has stopped taking his medication and eating and has become delusional. He said those changes undermine the findings of the prosecution's experts.

"They can deteriorate quiet significantly," he said of such patients.

Ficarrotta ruled that Bello is unable to assist in his defense or comprehend the legal proceedings. He ordered him returned to the state hospital

"I want this case closely monitored." the judge said, adding that the case will proceed as soon as Bello can be stabilized – if he can.

Local officials said that county jail officials can't force inmates to take medication. Mental hospitals can.

Forcing inmates to take medication creates mountains of problems, said Frank Ochberg, a clinical professor of psychiatry at Michigan State University and former associate director of the National Institute of Mental Health.

It is so vexing -- ethically, legally and morally," he said. "Is it a physician's responsibility to restore someone's health to have them executed?"

Bruce Jacob, a professor at Stetson University College of Law, said there seem to be few legal impediments in forcing Bello to take his medication.

"I think it could be done, but the statute doesn't cover this exact situation," he said.

Jacob said prosecutors would have had to obtain a court order, and the law specifies what they would have to prove, including the medical necessity and whether there are less intrusive alternatives.

"It is not as clear as it should be," he said.

The ruling outraged Tampa police officers who attended the hearing.

"This person has skipped off death row by not taking his medicine," said Detective Greg Stout, president of the Tampa Police Benevolent Association. "I find that incredible."

Bello was found incompetent after his arrest, and it was six years before a trial could be held. He was ruled incompetent in 1990, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2004 and 2005.

Reporter Tom Brennan can be reached at (813) 259-7698 or tbrennan@tampatrib.com.

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