ST. HELENS, Ore. -- A Washington state man charged with killing the Rainier, Ore., police chief in 2011 has been transferred from jail to the Oregon state mental hospital in Salem.
Columbia County, Ore., Sheriff Jeff Dickerson tells the Daily News of Longview that Daniel Butts was moved Monday.
On Feb. 27, Circuit Court Judge Ted Grove found the 23-year-old Kalama, Wash., man mentally impaired and unable to assist in his defense.
The judge ordered Butts sent to the mental hospital to be treated and forcibly medicated until he is fit to return to Columbia County for trial.
Butts is charged with aggravated murder in the fatal shooting of Chief Ralph Painter on Jan. 5, 2011, after Painter responded to a report of a suspicious person at a car stereo shop.
