Guilty, and expensive?

OLYMPIA — Changing Washington law to allow criminal defendants to be found guilty but mentally ill probably wouldn’t have much effect on the state mental hospital system, a high-ranking state official said Friday.

But it could add significant costs to the Department of Corrections, and taxpayers, said David Weston, the chief of mental health services for the Department of Social and Health Services.

“It could be very expensive,” Weston said in an interview after discussing mentally ill criminals with the House Human Services Committee.

            A proposal the Legislature considered earlier this year would have allowed defendants to be found “guilty but mentally ill.” It didn’t pass, but is getting new scrutiny after the escape of Phillip Paul during an Eastern State Hospital “field trip” to the Spokane County Fair last month.

            Weston said he believed only a few defendants who are now found not guilty by reason of insanity would be found guilty but mentally ill if the law changed. The change would have a much bigger impact on defendants who have a mental illness and are currently being found guilty.