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An Oklahoma County judge has denied a request to allow a man accused of killing a sheriff’s deputy in 2022 more time to receive competency restoration treatment, saying a doctor failed to administer the man court-ordered medication.
Oklahoma County District Judge Kathryn Savage ordered the criminal case against Benjamin Plank to be dismissed “without prejudice,” meaning the charges can be refiled against Plank if he is determined to have regained competency later on. For now, he will be civilly committed.
Plank was charged with first-degree murder after Oklahoma County Sgt. Bobby Swartz was fatally shot while serving an eviction notice Aug. 22, 2022. Plank is also accused of shooting at three other deputies during the incident in south Oklahoma City. One of the deputies who was shot, Mark Johns, nearly died from his injuries.
Plank was examined by forensic psychologist Scott Orth, who found that Plank had numerous delusional beliefs stemming from mental illness. Savage then ordered Plank to undergo competency restoration treatment.
Plank has spent most of the past three years at the Oklahoma Forensic Center in Vinita, undergoing court-ordered competency evaluation and treatment. Plank was first admitted there on April 6, 2023.
But court records show that Plank refused to take psychotropic medication despite a court order allowing medicine to be administered to him involuntarily.
Related: Murder case on hold after OK County sheriff’s deputy fatally shot. Here’s what we know
Oklahoma Forensic Center in Vinita
Notes from his progress at the Oklahoma Forensic Center, cited in the recent court order, showed that Plank’s own insight into his legal situation had begun to improve as of June 26, 2024. But he was transferred internally to another unit after doctors found he was using contraband marijuana, which they worried could interfere with his prescribed medication.
Court filings also said that Dr. David Mitchell, a psychiatrist at the Forensic Center, treated Plank between June 2024 and January 2025. The doctor described Plank as being medication-compliant for five months ― until Mitchell attempted to increase his medication dosage, to which Plank would not agree. As of February 2025, Plank was refusing his medication again, according to the progress notes.
Mitchell also testified that, after the transfer, Plank had “reverted back to a more consistent pattern with his other beliefs.” These included delusions that family members were involved in a pedophile ring and that they were involved in a conspiracy with law enforcement and public defenders to silence him.
More: Man accused of killing Oklahoma County deputy to be treated for ‘delusions’ before trial
Oklahoma statute limits competency restoration efforts to two years. Prosecutors argued that doctors with the state’s Department of Mental Health had failed to comply with Savage’s previous court order by not forcing Plank to take the medication, and that the length of his treatment should be extended so that he might eventually be able to stand trial.
Plank’s public defenders countered that the reasonable time period statutorily-allotted for competency restoration had passed and that Plank should instead be civilly committed.
Senate Bill 1089, passed by the Oklahoma legislature earlier this year, modified state law to allow any duration of treatment during which an individual refuses medication to not count against the competency restoration period. That revised law, however, will not take effect until November.
According to the order issued Sept. 2, Savage ruled that the state’s mental health department did not provide the necessary court-ordered treatment to Plank. She also said that current law allowed her no exceptions to consider extending the two years for competency restoration.
“There is no legal justification within these criminal proceedings to continue holding the Defendant at the Oklahoma Forensic Center for competency restoration based on Dr. Mitchell’s failure to comply with the (previous) Order,” Savage wrote. “Therefore the State’s Motion is denied.”
Orth, the forensic psychologist, said that without medication — with or without Plank’s consent — he would “not predict competency restoration to likely be even remotely successful.”
A spokeswoman for the state’s Department of Mental Health said the agency will abide by the court’s order.
In a statement to KOCO-TV, the family of Bobby Swartz said they were “heartbroken, furious, and in shock” over the court’s ruling Tuesday.
“There is no justice here,” the family said in its statement. “For three years, we’ve lived with the pain of losing my father in the most violent way possible. Every day, we remember his courage, his dedication, and the life he gave protecting others. Knowing the man who killed him might never face justice is unbearable.”
The Oklahoman also reached out to the office of Oklahoma County District Attorney Vicki Behenna for comment. A spokeswoman said that the DA is reviewing the judge’s order and determining next steps.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Criminal case for man accused of murdering sheriff’s deputy dismissed
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