US Wants Detroit Bomb Suspect To Be Medicated
MARQUETTE (WWJ/AP) - Federal prosecutors are seeking forced medication for a mentally ill man who is charged with leaving an explosive outside a Detroit federal building in 2011.
A year after his arrest, Gary Mikulich, from Kingsford, Michigan, remains in custody and has been declared incompetent to assist his lawyer and understand the case.
After Mikulich's arrest, his family said he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia 18 years ago and often refuses to take medication. The government this week asked a judge to order involuntary treatment to improve the Upper Peninsula man's mental health.
"This case would appear to be (serious) enough to justify involuntary medication," Assistant U.S. Attorney Maarten Vermaat said in a court filing. "The defendant here took steps that showed he wished to harm people and property. He also faces a minimum of 37 years in prison if convicted and could receive a sentence of life in prison."
U.S. Magistrate Judge Timothy Greeley hasn't made a decision. Mikulich's attorney declined to comment. Pat Mikulich said court-ordered medication has helped her son in the past. There is no dispute that he has a history of mental illness.
"That's the only thing to give him a semi-normal life," Pat Mikulich said Friday, referring to involuntary medication.
Mikulich, 43, is charged with leaving a tool bag containing explosive components outside the McNamara Federal Building in Detroit in February 2011. It was an embarrassing incident for the government: A guard brought the bag inside the building where it sat for nearly three weeks until it was scanned. No one was hurt, and a bomb squad detonated the explosives on Belle Isle.
In a recent letter to the judge, Mikulich said he opposes forced medication.
According to an FBI affidavit filed in court, Mikulich has complained to the police about the FBI and a "card system" more than a dozen times since January. He said he, and others, were under attack by the federal government via satellite.
The FBI said Mikulich also referred to himself as "President Mikulich" and the "nominated president of the United States of America."
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