By Lyra Bordelon
Treatment for a high-profile case of schizophrenia in Greenbrier County appears to be successful in the case of Edwood Reyes-Cortijo. In a hearing under Greenbrier County Circuit Court Judge Jennifer Dent, Reyes-Cortijo was permitted to move from a high-security mental health institution to a less-restrictive transitional housing facility on Friday, March 12.
Bradley Jerome Morales-Andrades died on March 21, 2017, in Greenbrier Valley Medical Center as a result of stab wounds. In October 2017, Morales-Andrades’s roommate, Reyes-Cortijo, was indicted for his murder. During the proceedings in the Greenbrier County Circuit Court, a number of mental health evaluations were performed on Reyes-Cortijo, leading to a diagnosis of schizophrenia.
Reyes-Cortijo pled “not guilty by reason of mental illness, but guilty to murder in the first degree in regard to the facts” on March 5, 2020.
“The defendant shall remain under the court’s jurisdiction for the remainder of his life … or until discharged by the court,” reads the plea deal. “The court shall commit the defendant to a mental health facility designated by the department that is the least restrictive environment to manage the defendant and that will allow for the protection of the public.”
After a nearly year long stay in the William R. Sharp Hospital, Reyes-Cortijo was approved to transition to less restrictive housing.
Cortijo’s plea, approved by the court, also allows a chief medical officer or “responsible official” of a mental health facility to determine if Reyes-Cortijo “is not mentally ill or does not have significant dangerousness risk factors associated with mental illness,” allowing him to be moved to a “less restrictive environment,” considering the safety of the community and Reyes-Cortijo’s well-being.
According to a report and testimony by Theodore Glance, Assistant Professor of Behavioral Medicine and Psychiatry for William R. Sharp Hospital, this is now the case.
“My comfort is that the diagnosis of schizophrenia and the treatment … is a protective factor,” said Glance.”Now that we know that he has [it] and we know the level of violence that may result, in terms of lack of treatment and the disintegration of his mental status, that speaks to a protective factor. The concern of re-emergence of violence to that degree is highly unlikely because you don’t go, normal normal normal boom. It’s a gradual descent into the abyss. … Mental illness doesn’t work that way.”
Glance pointed to the ongoing supervision of the court, social workers, and clinicians for keeping the now-known illness in check.
“If there is a clinical concern by anyone … I don’t think you have to wait for him to do something,” Glance said. “If a clinical provider just has a gut feeling that something is going on, those things need to be addressed. … I trust the intuitions of clinicians who work with people with mental illness.”
While examining Glance, Via asked if it could be too soon, only four years removed from the crime, to consider this type of housing. This was echoed by the victim’s mother, who was allowed to speak by Dent.
“A person who knew what they did does not have a place to live outside in stability,” said Elicelia Andrades. “They need to complete the time in prison.”
Dent again noted the plea of not guilty by reason of mental illness. Defense Attorney Joshua Edwards also noted the hearing was not “about punishment, we are here to talk about what is appropriate for his treatment.”
“[This is the] most common, the most frequent, and the most emotionally charged question that the public has when we discuss [not guilty due to mental illness pleas],” Glance explained. “They feel that a transition to a less restrictive placement is in some way, … using words that have been used to me numerous times, ‘getting away with it.’ My response to that is when a person is found not guilty by reason of mental illness, the thing that folks forget is he is found not guilty and that Mr. Cortijo … did not commit the violent acts. His mental illness committed the violent acts.”
According to the Treatment Advocacy Center, “a national nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating barriers to the timely and effective treatment for people with severe mental illness,” approximately 3.3 percent of the U.S. population struggles with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, with millions untreated for the disorders.
Those afflicted are typically more likely to harm themselves than anyone else – approximately 50 percent will attempt suicide at during their lifetimes, totaling in the millions, while accounting for only 10 percent of the country’s average homicide rates. Untreated illness in these individuals often leads to homelessness, victimization, suicidality, arrest, and incarceration.
In the order, Dent also noted that any further progress for Reyes-Cortijo would have to be approved by the court at each step.
