SEATTLE, Wash. — A man accused of killing a Seattle police officer in 2009 has delusional disorder, according to a psychologist hired by the defense team.
Christopher Monfort is on trial for killing Seattle police Officer Timothy Brenton on Halloween night in 2009. He is also accused of bombing several police vehicles at a city vehicle yard the week before.
Police arrested Monfort a week after the murder, where they said Monfort shot at them. Police returned fire. A bullet lodged in Monfort’s back, and he has since been bound to a wheelchair.
Dr. Mark Cunningham, a psychologist hired by the defense team, said he interviewed Monfort extensively, as well as his mother and his girlfriend.
Cunningham said Monfort holds onto 11 delusional concepts:
- He has a growing conviction that police are attacking citizens.
- He believes police are a criminal gang.
- He believes Seattle and King County law enforcement are like British Redcoats.
- He believes even police officers who don't commit criminal assaults against citizenry are complicit in their support of their colleagues.
- He believes the criminal and murderous conduct of police officers is the most serious problem facing citizens.
- He believes it is the obligation of citizens to resist such tyranny with deadly force.
- He believes he should fulfill this obligation as a modern Minute Man.
- He believes that only when a sufficient number of police have been killed, would police departments and district attorneys be able to restore police to lawful behavior.
- He believed his plans, preparations and actions were morally right and consistent with the higher law of the U.S.Constitution.
- He believes his actions were required of him as a citizen.
- He believes his conduct was morally right and lawful.
Cunningham used the industry standard, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, to diagnose Monfort with delusional disorder.
Cunningham explained that in order to have this diagnosis, one cannot previously have been diagnosed with schizophrenia. Those with delusional disorders can often appear normal in most functions, except for one or more areas of delusion.
He said in Monfort’s case, he holds delusions specifically about police brutality. For example, Cunningham said Monfort compared modern law enforcement to British Redcoats during the American Revolution.
“The problem is that there are many fundamental aspects of his assertions about what was going on at the time of the American Revolution, that as best I can tell, are erroneous,” Cunningham said.
The defense lawyers played several video clips of Monfort being interviewed by a psychiatrist.
In one clip, Monfort was asked what percentage of Seattle police he believes is “bad.”
“That’s hard to put a number on it. But that being said, it’s probably in the area of 75 percent,” Monfort said.
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