The state-level case of Robert Lewis Dear Jr. — the man who allegedly shot and killed three people at a Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood in 2015 — is slated to be heard on Thursday morning. 

Dear is accused of entering the Planned Parenthood with an assault rifle, shooting and killing three on Nov. 27, 2015. Ke’Arre Stewart, Jennifer Markovsky and University of Colorado Colorado Springs police officer Garrett Swasey died. Nine other people — five of them law enforcement officers — were wounded during the course of a five-hour standoff.

Dear’s state case has been in limbo for years after he was found incompetent to stand trial. Attorneys at previous hearings said that his state case, where he faces 179 charges, will be on hold until there is a resolution at the federal level.

Alleged Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood shooter Robert Dear’s case remains on hold

U.S. District Judge Robert Blackburn in federal court determined in September that Dear could be forcibly medicated in an attempt to have him stand trial. However, due to an appeal filed by Dear’s defense attorneys, he can’t be forcibly medicated until the end of the appeal process. 

At the previous status conference for Dear in November, prosecutors informed Judge William Bain that Dear’s federal appeal remains in limbo, but that the United States Attorney’s Office had informed them that oral argument over the appeal was expected to take place in January.  

Dear’s appeal case was not heard in the Colorado Court of Appeals in January, and is not on the oral argument schedule for February. 

Court records show that there have been no updates to Dear’s federal case since August. 

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