DENVER -- A defense attorney for Adam Hayat, the former Marine charged with leaving pipe bombs in a Denver hotel in February, has filed court papers saying he will use an insanity defense.
A Denver federal judge granted a defense motion earlier this month to have Hayat undergo a psychiatric examination to determine whether he was sane at the time of the offense. He will also be evaluated to determine if he is mentally competent to assist in his defense. Federal prosecutors did not oppose the competency evaluation.
Hayat was arrested in Los Angeles on Feb. 16, after Denver police investigators found six pipe bombs in his room at the Sheraton Denver Downtown Hotel. He had drawn attention by running up a $10,000 hotel bill.
A Denver bomb squad detective found the words "explosive incident" scrawled on the closet door mirror in the room, according to an arrest affidavit. He has been charged with possession of a destructive device that was not registered to him in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record.
Hayat has long said he suffers from Gulf War Syndrome and post-traumatic stress disorder and that the Veterans Administration refused to treat him.
But Hayat is 36 years old, so he would have only been 10 at the time of the 1991 Gulf War.
Hayat attempted suicide in March at the Federal Correctional Institution in Jefferson County, according to court records.
Hayat’s father told Denver7 after his arrest that his son has a long history of mental health problems. Sultan Hayat added that his son joined the Marines out of high school, serving in Iraq, Japan and Korea.
In court records, federal public defender Matthew Golla wrote that, based on his interaction with Hayat, there is “reasonable cause to believe ... that the defendant may be suffering from a mental disease or defect rendering him mentally incompetent.”
“Without disclosing the specific content of privileged communications, counsel’s belief in this regard is based on statements made by the defendant regarding this case, the defendant’s demeanor, and concerns raised by the defendant himself regarding his mental condition and recent missives filed by Mr. Hayat with this Court,” the defense attorney wrote.
Golla was referring to handwritten letters and a motion that Hayat sent to federal Judge R. Brooke Jackson in April.
"This system is a joke. You (federal govt.) can't decide whether you want me alive or dead," Hayat wrote in one letter. "First, you destroy my immune system with your experimental vaccine...Second, the VA won’t compensate me for s--- hardly."
“I cry out for help only to receive a criminal case instead,” Hayat wrote. He asked to be housed at a Springfield, Missouri “facility,” an apparent reference to the Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in that city. He has asked to be held in Missouri, so he can be closer to his family.
Hayat's attorney wrote in an April 27 motion that, "Defendant has been under the care of various mental health professionals for more than a decade and has been previously diagnosed with a bipolar disorder. Although psychiatric medication has been prescribed for Mr. Hayat to treat his mental illness, he was not taking these medications prior to his arrest and these medications are apparently unavailable where he is presently detained.”
The attorney asked that the "psychiatric evaluation of the defendant be conducted...to determine whether Mr. Hayat was insane at the time of the alleged offense."
