I haven't seen any quotes from family or friends saying "He is totally normal and together" either.
Not a lot of data for or against on that point.
I say more likely, because mental illness that would rise to the level of requiring a forced mental evaluation by the state is rare, and not something that I think you would be likely to be able to spot simply from someone’s internet postings.
If the Facebook screen capture I saw is authentic, he threatened federal employees.
That would occasion a visit. Apparently, when the police spoke to him they interpreted his responses as being symptomatic of mental illness and brought in an evaluator.
So it wasn't just posts but also an interview.
“The law requires that within four hours of detaining someone, you have to have a magistrate write a petition for a temporary restraining order,” said John Whitehead, an attorney with the Rutherford Institute, the Virginia-based civil rights firm that is defending the ex-Marine. “They didn’t do that. That didn’t happen.”
According to his attorney's filed motion, the TRO was not provided in four hours but in nine hours. So he is arguing a technical point - that they followed procedure but that it took too long.
There will be a hearing on that technical point today.
In practice, there are frequently arguments in court about timing, and typically judges will allow parties leeway on timing if they can demonstrate best efforts. As in "the ADA was waiting there for the TRO to be signed, but the presiding judge was busy and made her wait three hours" etc.
But as the motion concedes, the police brought in a county evaluator and an independent evaluator, did get a TRO and then did get a proper warrant for involuntary commission.
His attorney's argument is not based on a failure to undertake the legally necessary steps, but on their tardiness.
“I haven’t seen any quotes from family or friends saying “He is totally normal and together” either.”
Maybe not “totally normal”, but I’ve seen quotes from family and friends that say he is not insane or a threat to anyone.
“If the Facebook screen capture I saw is authentic, he threatened federal employees.”
I haven’t seen any screenshots in any of the stories I have read, so I can’t really comment on that. However, I see posts on FR pretty much every single day that, taken out of context, could easily be construed as threats against Federal employees. I really don’t think that is reason to toss anyone in the psych ward for evaluation, since the way the Federal government behaves, you almost have to be insane not to consider taking up arms against them.
“Apparently, when the police spoke to him they interpreted his responses as being symptomatic of mental illness and brought in an evaluator.”
Well, I’m skeptical. It sounds to me that, had they any real evidence he was a threat or planning anything, they would have arrested him. Since they came up empty handed, I think they resorted to the psych evaluation just to lock him up for some reason. I could be wrong, but that’s my gut instinct.
“His attorney’s argument is not based on a failure to undertake the legally necessary steps, but on their tardiness.”
I wasn’t aware that they did finally follow through on that. Better late than never, I suppose.