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CLEVELAND (WJW) – The family of murdered Cleveland Police Officer Jamieson Ritter is calling for an investigation into a state mental health hospital after questions concerning how the staff at Central Ohio Behavioral Health has been dealing with the suspect, who is accused of killing his own grandmother and the officer.
Officer Ritter’s family issued a strongly worded statement Wednesday evening, hours after a judge extended a deadline for Delawnte Hardy to be restored to competency.
The statement reads:
“We are pleased that the judge used common sense in her ruling. It is apparent there are issues at this facility. As outlined by the judge they have failed to treat the defendant or notify the court. They have failed to provide court ordered reports and failed to notify the court he was refusing his medications for five months. There were serious and very specific allegations of drug use in the facility which would constitute felonies and federal charges for using the mail. The judge herself has questioned why it has taken this long for treatment and in most similar cases treatment has been successful in several months. This case is approaching a year with no end in sight. We are going to push for an investigation into this facility to make sure that our case and that the rights of all the residents of Ohio are handled in a manner that is fair and impartial. It is apparent in this case there are many questions that need to be investigated and answered by Central Ohio Behavioral Health.”
We reached out to officials at Central Ohio Behavioral Health to discuss the matter.
Hardy was found incompetent to stand trial last September. In October 2024, he was sent to Central Ohio Behavioral Health in Columbus to be restored to competency.
However, in March, hospital staff reported that Hardy had not been taking his medications for months. The judge ordered “forced medications” in March. Prosecutors usually have one year to have the suspect restored to competency. If he is not found competent in that time frame, he could remain indefinitely institutionalized.
Again, however, in this case, Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Ashley Kilbane extended the deadline four months since Hardy had refused medicine for months.
Hardy’s attorneys have said Hardy has been taking the medications since the judge ordered him to do so.
Kilbane also wrote on her docket that hospital officials notified her in April that Hardy was taken to the emergency room.
“A two-page report dated 7/10/25 referencing ‘a few episodes two months ago’ that ultimately necessitated the transfer to the emergency room,” Kilbane’s court docket reads. “It further states that ‘at the time of these incidents, there was a suspicion that [defendant] was taking substances other than what were prescribed for him.’ The report briefly states that ‘exhaustive searches’ were conducted. A determination was made that the substance entered the facility through mail delivery to another patient, who ‘was sharing those substances with Mr. Hardy,’ who was ‘chewing these papers to get high.’ That protocol changes were made, and thereafter that, ‘all instance of suspected substance intoxication on the unit was stopped.’”
The FOX 8 I-Team asked hospital officials if they had requested an outside agency to investigate, but were told no contraband was found so an outside agency was not asked to investigate.
Ritter’s family and Cleveland police union officials said they want to know how the hospital determined Hardy did not take any other drugs and who investigated the incident.
Peggy Gallek
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