Homeless Man Imprisoned For False Alarm To Get New Sentence

CHICAGO — An appeals court threw out a homeless man's five year and eight month prison sentence for pulling a fire alarm at an medical facility in Urbana. The judge in the 2015 case should have not have considered at sentencing a doctors report at that found the man unsuited to psychiatric treatment who "may well be need to be incarcerated for extended periods because he cannot be controlled in the community," according to an 4th District Illinois Appellate Court opinion released Tuesday.

Chad Z. Williams, now 29, was convicted of felony disorderly conduct and criminal trespassing in May 2015 after he was found to have walked into the offices of Carle Therapy Services in Urbana and claimed to be blind before pulling a fire alarm when staff denied him "blind assistance," according to court records.

"That is for refusing to help a blind man," Williams allegedly told staff. Witnesses testified he has never appeared to be blind.

Prosecutors said during sentencing that Williams had previously fulled a fire alarm in the emergency room of Carle hospital, but charges were never filed.

A defense attorney commissioned a psychological evaluation of Williams, which suggested it was likely that the homeless man was suffering from PTSD brought on by childhood abuse.

The appeals court found that evaluation had been improperly considered in deciding for a tougher sentence because statements made during such medical examinations can only be considered if the defenses of insanity, or drugged or intoxicated condition, are raised.

In this case they were not. The judge read from the report at length during Williams' sentencing hearing.

Judge Tom Difanis, said Williams was guilty of "an outrageous crime" for triggering a false alarm at a medical facility. The incident prompted a response from six Urbana Fire Department units, according to testimony at trial.

Difanis sentenced Williams to an even longer sentence than the five years requested by prosecutors. The defense had asked for 180-days in Champaign County jail.

The judge said two factors went into the harsh-seeming sentence: Williams' past criminal history and deterring others. And then he read from the Dr. Lawrence Jeckel's report – a medical report the appeals court ruled should only have been taken into account when it comes to the defendants fitness to stand trial or when he raises a defense based on his mental state.

The report painted Williams as a petty tyrant on a "reign of terror" who was likely to continue is he wasn't locked up:

"[Williams] continues to engage in malicious mischief toward the police and in the community. He frequently acts out infantile, omnipotent demands, such as asking staff at Carle Therapy Services to call an ambulance for him. His insistence that he is blind, deaf, has PTSD or narcolepsy, is clumsy and may on occasion work with unsuspecting clerks. But he really can become a tyrant if a clerk asks him to pay, and he has a history of resisting arrest. ... Therefore, I believe he should be considered a chronic suicide risk, which is something that we have to take into consideration. In my opinion, he is not suitable for treatment in a psychiatric facility because he basically engages in ego-syntonic acting out and has shown no indication of stopping his ‘reign of terror.’ ... Neuropsychological testing has revealed that he has average intelligence. He may well need to be incarcerated for extended periods because he cannot be controlled in the community"

Even though the defense did not object to the consideration of Jeckel's report on Williams' mental fitness evaluation at the time, a three-judge panel of the apellate court agreed that the judge had denied him his right to a fair sentencing hearing.

Williams had been banned from all Carle properties prior to his arrest, according to the News-Gazette.

Williams had previous adult convictions for theft, forgery and resisting a peace officer. Prosecutors dismissed pending retail theft charges after he was sentenced to 58 months in prison. He was also ordered to pay $225 in fines.

The appeals court upheld Williams conviction but vacated his sentences in its March 20 opinion. It ordered him to get a fresh sentencing hearing in front of a new judge.

According to the Illinois Department of Corrections, Williams is projected to complete his sentence for pulling the fire alarm on March 23, 2015 in December 2018.