“The system is horribly broken,” defense attorney Richard Davies told Judge Keith Harper in court April 14 after spending “hours and hours” coordinating in-patient psychiatric treatment for a client.

Davies' client – Port Townsend High School math teacher James “Jim” Keith Miller, 52, of Port Angeles – has been enrolled in a 45-day treatment program at Cascade Behavioral Health, a for-profit hospital in Tukwila that offers state-approved beds for mental health patients.

Miller pleaded not guilty to harassment and second-degree burglary March 25 in Jefferson County Superior Court, following his March 18 arrest.

Miller, who allegedly threatened his principal and entered his former classroom after being banned from campus, suffers from bipolar disorder and has been experiencing a manic episode since December 2015, according to an April 7 evaluation by Dr. Richard Yocum of Western State Hospital in Lakewood.

Miller, who holds a doctorate in mathematics from Washington State University and has taught at PTHS since 2010, was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 1985, according to court records.

Prior to receiving Dr. Yocum's report, both Davies and Deputy Prosecutor Julie St. Marie said during an April 8 hearing that they expected Miller to be found competent, yet agreed he needed treatment before standing trial.

“When Dr. Miller first came before the court, he was in a heightened manic state,” Davies told the court April 14, noting that while in jail on $150,000 bond, Miller has been taking an insufficient mix of medications based on a two-and-a-half-year-old prescription.

Dr. Yocum, who filed his report with the court April 12, found Miller capable of understanding the court proceedings and charges against him, but not of assisting in his own defense.

As a result, Dr. Yocum recommended in-patient psychiatric treatment to restore Miller's competency to assist in his own defense. He also recommended a designated mental health professional (DMHP) from Jefferson Mental Health Services (JMHS) determine whether Miller could be committed to such a treatment facility.

Davies said the DMHP declined to commit Miller to a treatment facility after finding that he is not gravely disabled or a threat to himself or others.

“It was fortuitous that Dr. Miller was found incompetent, because it allowed him to get the treatment he wants and needs through the criminal case when the DMHP from Jefferson Mental Health Services failed to properly implement the civil commitment process,” Davies told the Leader.

Without that involuntary commitment – known as a civil commitment – Davies said, Miller would have been forced to undergo treatment at Western State when space came available, which Davies said would have taken two months.

“Dr. Miller needs to be out of jail,” Davies said in court. “He's been there a month now, and there's no reason to hold him.”

Davies argued that Miller should be released or furloughed from jail and allowed to be taken to Cascade, which is a locked-down facility, by a person known to the court.

St. Marie agreed with sending Miller to Cascade, but said she would prefer he remain in custody and be delivered by county sheriff's deputies.

“I am very sympathetic to the situation here,” St. Marie said, arguing that Miller has been aggressive with fellow inmates at the jail and cannot be trusted to show up at a court hearing after completing treatment.

Judge Harper agreed with St. Marie, ordering that Miller remain in custody and be transported by deputies.

“I don't want him released from that facility or released to some other county. I don't know that he's not going to go out and harm [someone],” Harper said, alluding to two patients who escaped and another two who went missing from Western State earlier this month. “I think he is a threat to others.”

Judge Harper set a May 20 court hearing, during which he is to consider releasing Miller from custody if competence is restored and his behavior is stabilized. He also set an April 22 hearing to decide whether to seal medical reports.

Just after Harper made his decision, Philip Koziol, Cascade's treatment coordinator who had been on speaker phone during the hearing, clarified that Cascade is not qualified to declare a patient’s competency restored, causing Judge Harper to question why Miller should be sent there at all.

“They treat the underlying disorder,” said Davies, noting that Western State, as a state-owned institution, cannot declare a patient’s competency restored either, but specific doctors, such as Dr. Yocum, can.

“I don't want this whole thing to be scuttled because Cascade is not in the business of writing a report. I have way too much invested in this to have it go south now," Davies said.

The parties agreed Miller would still get treatment at Cascade, but specified that Dr. Yocum would visit him there upon completion to determine whether his competency had been restored.

Competency aside, Davies said he became particularly frustrated trying to get Miller admitted to a treatment facility where his prescription medications could be fine-tuned, resulting in more stable behavior. Davies said Miller should have been civilly committed from the outset when JMHS first evaluated him on Feb. 4, but said he now realizes that's not how the system works.

Davies told the Leader: “He was hung out to dry on the civil side.”