Man arrested with guns during Obama visit gets prison

[theHandpuppet]

Source: The Cincinnati Enquirer

COVINGTON — A 53-year-old Eastern Kentucky man has received a four-year prison term after trying to run though a presidential security barricade in a car loaded with guns during Barack Obama’s visit to the region last September.

Kerry T. Prater was sentenced Tuesday by U.S. District Judge David Bunning. Prater, who has a history of mental illness, had pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm by a person committed to a mental institution. Prater was involuntarily committed to a mental hospital in 2001 and 2005 based on danger he posed to himself and others.

Prater’s attorney, Kerry Neff, had asked for leniency.

“Although it was determined that Mr. Prater is competent to stand trial, it was opined that he does suffer from a personality disorder not otherwise specified with paranoia and antisocial features,” Neff wrote in a sentencing memorandum. “It was also determined that, based upon the results of testing, Mr. Prater’s cognitive abilities lie in the low average range.”



Read more: http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20130731/NEWS0103/307310127/Man-arrested-guns-during-Obama-visit-gets-prison

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The sentence should have been longer. This man has a history of violent behavior and I'm sure it won't be long before he's facing a judge again.

[onehandle]

1. Tyranny. He was just standing his ground. nt

[bluedigger]

2. He should have been involuntarily committed again.

They could keep him forever. He will just get out and eventually commit an act of violence, since it is apparently impossible to keep guns out of his possession.

[theHandpuppet]

3. It's only a matter of time

When he gets out, which will be entirely too soon, he'll find more guns and eventually someone will pay for it with their life.

[tumtum]

6. Ditto.

It's just a matter of time after his release that he'll either kill someone, or go on a mass murder spree.
A Universal background check law would help prevent this guy from getting more firearms, but I like your idea better.

[bluedigger]

9. Better to let one psycho go free than to inconvenience every lawful gun desirer.

[iamthebandfanman]

4. im pretty anti-gun..

but I dunno how I feel about this...

it sure sounds like he needed a sentence of being committed to an institution for 4 years instead of prison...
how is that going to help his mental condition at all?

[theHandpuppet]

5. He had apparently been committed before

Didn't help.

[iamthebandfanman]

8. well, dont know what that has to do with anything...

except further prove my point that he should be institutionalized again...

mentally disabled or sick people should not be in prisons... I can promise it will not help him one bit.. and itll only make him more avid about doing something crazy when he gets out..

if he is a threat to society, you can keep someone indefinitely institutionalized.

the fact that he was released shows that the institution he previous went to didn't do their jobs.. not proof that he is uncontrollable and deserves to sit in a jail cell where he can become more despondent and further entrenched into his disorder/disability.
id imagine they let him go based on money..
those places are actually pretty expensive...

my brother stayed for about a week and a half at a facility .. if he hadn't been already classified as disabled and with medicare.. his bill would have been around 7-10 grand.

[theHandpuppet]

11. If that were one of the options presented to the judge...

I would have agreed with it. Unfortunately, I don't know the ins and outs of how the criminal justice system deals with the violent, mentally ill. Whatever they have been doing isn't working and someone will eventually pay the price with their life.

[appleannie1]

7. I hope when he gets out that he does not kill someone. He should be put in confinement for life.

[meow2u3]

10. Sounds like a typical teabagger

IQ in the low normal range: check.
Paranoid personality: check.
History of threats of violence: check.
Packing heat while mentally unbalanced: check.

He certainly fits the profile of a RWNJ to a T.

[warrant46]

13. Well he won't be voting in Prison

But once he gets out and his civil rights to vote are restored he will vote.

Either with a ballot or with his instinct to get even in some way

This guy needs to be locked up in a mental facility until he exhibits no more dangerousness to either himself or others.

The problem is that the Repukes will not pay for this "treatment" if you are indigent.

Its much better to fund the 1 1/2 trillion dollar F-35 program

[theHandpuppet]

20. The lack of proper treament facilities in this country....

... is a national disgrace.

[warrant46]

24. Absolutely disgraceful

[freshwest]

12. He's definitely not in the range of involuntary commitments I've known. Able to drive, get weapons.

He was handled with a good deal of leniency when one considers what he might have done. The people I've known who were barred from owning guns for life from the process were not capable of driving legally, nor did they have the financial ability to get a variety of guns and rounds of ammuntion.

This guy was planning on a massacre, or so it would appear. If he serves his four years in prison, he may be forced to undergo treatment, but prison is not the best place for that, by any means. He'll still be a problem when he gets out if Kentucky does not fund his treatment.

I wish there was some more information about his family or associates that were financially aiding him and giving him the freedom to have a vehicle and buy an arsenal. When he leaves prison, they will still be there enabling him.

And I hope they don't play hate radio in the prison, or he'll just get more fired up.

[warrant46]

14. Fox news in prison?

Yes that's the ticket </sarcasm>

[theHandpuppet]

18. Unfortunately a lot of details from the case aren't in the article

A lot of people drive illegally and there's no indication how he obtained the guns. Could have been that they were guns he owned prior to his involuntary commitment, or he could have obtained them via a private sale. Determined people will find their way around the law. But you are right -- someone had to be giving him financial assistance but we don't know who. For all we know, he could have been collecting disability.

[freshwest]

22. All possibilities. But an involuntary commitment is usually a life altering event that gets one on

Last edited Wed Jul 31, 2013, 07:58 PM - Edit history (1)

the radar for years.

This guy was committed twice, probably acting out every day between those specified hospitalizations. There is a high bar to meet for a person losing their freedom in that way. Being court ordered to live in the 'least restrictive setting' may not be anything near what some people imagine. It is not a life sentence, either, even if the person appears to never improve. In principle, jailing people for being mentally ill is wrong, but it happens in states that do not fund treatment.

His level of functioning appears far above the level I'm familiar with. What interested me was the “It was also determined that, based upon the results of testing, Mr. Prater’s cognitive abilities lie in the low average range.”

For some, their problem is permanent and requires being institutionalized where they get help with all functions of daily living, or ADLs. It needs funding to provlde it, but if a person doesn't get it, they may be loose in their community, able to harm themselves or others. It is a systematic failure due to lack of funding and hatred for the mentally ill.

Involuntary commitment is a major disruption in a person's life, so it seems he wouldn't have the wherewithal to get the car and the arsenal.

Having his first commitment in 2001, he would have lost everything most likely, job, home, guns. So that's the mystery here for me.

Some may think such a commitment is similar to a person checking oneself in for psychiatric treatment. It is nothing like that in the cases I've seen. The legal definition that must be met, in my experience, of being adjudicated to be 'a danger to one's self and others' is a specific one.

It's not loosely used, and is proven by their interactions with law enforcement or care givers when other treatment fails. The police are called in and it's documented. If they are not being involuntarily commited, they go to jail and regarded as criminals.

What I've seen was from underfunded, for profit private treatment facilities. I don't know if KY has a good systen ofmental health services.

The people I know in such situations have never fully recovered and require supervision, but more for cognitive issues that could not be resolved, even though there was some alleviation of their mental health status.

None I know of have any interest guns, or planning to kill anyone. They don't think that far ahead, really. I'm certain there is an entire subset of higher functioning persons than those I've helped. That can make it really hard for their family, caregivers or community to see that there is a problem.

I think the man is being sent to prison in lieu of proper treatment. But that may be a ticket for him getting a high level of care when he leaves prison. I appreciate the attorneys getting into the record that this man wasn't found to be competent in the past. I don't know why he was found competent to stand trial now.

I don't think life in prison is appropriate. But it may be that prison is all that KY is willing or able to do. As life sentences go, the man has been living one for many years. At the age of 58, with his level of problems, his prognosis is poor. IDK if federal or state money is going to help.

Obamacare helps by funding mental health care with exchanges in states that have them. I did find these search results which sounds better about the future for KY:

http://governor.ky.gov/healthierky/Pages/default.aspx

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Beshear

Perhaps Obamacare will help this man to get better.

Ironic, isn't it?

[theHandpuppet]

23. Insightful post

Thanks much.

[freshwest]

25. Thanks for your input. I wonder how many of these characters are in the same condition. Here's more:

Some members have posted on what may help this man and many others.

This is what ObamaCare does for mental health:

http://www.amhca.org/news/detail.aspx?ArticleId=615

•Mental health and substance use disorder benefits are included as Essential Health Benefits

•Federal parity protections are applied to mental health and substance use disorder benefits in the individual and small group markets

•Mandated parity for mental health and substance use disorder benefits in the individual and small group market will expand benefits availability to 62 million more Americans...

Huge News~ Obamacare Will Bring Insurance To Oregon's Homeless

http://www.democraticunderground.com/110213084

So things may be looking up for this man. I'm so glad that no one got hurt, and that the LEOs didn't hurt him, either. But I'm also very glad that our president and the others were kept safe. See you later.

[snappyturtle]

15. Hope he can get some help in prison for his mental illness.

Why wouldn't they put him back into a mental facility instead?

Seems to me society got what it paid for.

[theHandpuppet]

19. I'm not sure what you mean

"Society got what it paid for." The man had been committed twice before and obviously treatment hadn't worked. And we don't know how he was able to obtain the guns and ammo.

[snappyturtle]

21. Society 'got' safety while he was committed. nt

[Paladin]

16. "...paranoia and antisocial features..."

Thank Christ he had access to all the guns he wanted, right?

[bitchkitty]

17. Good. n/t

[struggle4progress]

26. "I can't even fill my car with guns and run presidential security barricades anymore! Obama

is taking away our freedoms!"