Mental illness patient faces attempted murder charge

CHESTER, Ill. -- Longtime involuntary mental patient Rodney Yoder is finally free of the state mental-health system, only to find himself in jail awaiting trail on attempted-murder and other charges.

Yoder, 44, was charged with attempted murder, aggravated battery and being in possession of a weapon as a felon stemming from an incident three years ago at the Chester Mental Health Center, Michael Burke, a Randolph County assistant state's attorney, said Monday.

Yoder will remain in the Randolph County Jail until his trial, a date for which has not been set, Burke said. Bond has been denied.

Involuntary mental patients in Illinois are given new commitment hearings every six months, when the state must persuade a judge the person is a danger to himself or others. Yoder's most recent six-month term expired Monday, Burke said.

"As of today, we are no longer involved with him," said Tom Green, spokesman for the Illinois Department of Human Services, which runs the state's mental hospitals.

State law prohibits the Department of Human Services from recommitting patients when felony charges are pending against them, Burke said.

Health officials didn't suddenly find Yoder mentally sound, Green said.

Rather, the criminal charges automatically took precedence over his commitment, and a new case would have to be made to a judge to lock him up involuntarily again, Green said.

But he said the agency has no plans to try to recommit Yoder if he is acquitted of the criminal charges.

If convicted, Yoder faces six to 30 years in prison, Burke said. If found innocent, Yoder would be set free, he said.

The former mechanic from central Illinois is accused of hitting fellow patient Antwon Mitchell with a sock containing flashlight batteries on April 26, 2000. Mitchell wasn't seriously hurt.

Yoder has called Mitchell "a thug" who had attacked him earlier that day, causing an eye injury that permanently impaired Yoder's vision.

Before his recent transfer to the Elgin Mental Health Center, about 30 miles from Chicago, Yoder had been an involuntary patient at the Chester facility since his commitment after a 1991 prison stint for hitting his ex-wife with a table leg.

Yoder has always argued he is mentally sound and is being persecuted for refusing the drugs and therapy experts said could cure him of a delusional disorder, which they have said could turn violent if he was ever set free.

Yoder said Burke is pursuing the case merely to keep him locked up, because the state can no longer succeed at getting him committed on mental-health grounds.

"They knew in December (at Yoder's last commitment hearing) they could not win another involuntary commitment hearing," said Yoder, who has turned his case into a rallying point for people who oppose "forced psychiatry."