FARMINGTON – A judge ordered charges against a mentally ill New Vineyard man be dismissed Friday after he was found to be incompetent to stand trial. Those charges included criminally threatening a Franklin County deputy in 2005.

Justice Joseph Jabar heard testimony from forensic psychologists that Michael D. Brown, 28, has a severe psychotic disorder that causes delusions. He read several evaluation reports before he concluded that Brown is not competent to stand trial and that there does not exist a substantial probability he will be in the foreseeable future.

Jabar also directed the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department to start the paperwork to involuntarily commit Brown to an institution for the mentally ill.

Brown was indicted in July 2005 on charges of criminal threatening, eluding an officer, passing a roadblock, reckless conduct and violation of condition of release stemming from a May 19, 2005, incident.

County Deputy Michelle St. Clair charged Brown after she attempted to check on his welfare because he has a long mental health history. She stopped his car on Route 27 in New Vineyard and walked up to the car, she said at the time. Brown had a loaded shotgun, with the safety off on his lap, and had it pointed toward the door where she was standing.

The deputy reported Brown said, “If I’m gonna go, I’m going to take somebody with me.”

St. Clair talked him into putting the gun away and was trying to talk him into getting out of the car, when Brown took off and led police on 4-mile high-speed chase, St. Clair said.

Deputies also allege that Brown tried to strike another deputy, who put down a spike mat on Route 4, with his vehicle.

Brown’s vehicle didn’t hit the mat but did stop at a roadblock down the road. He was taken to a Farmington hospital for evaluation, then transferred to Acadia Hospital in Bangor.

Brown was also found incompetent to stand trial on those same charges in April 2006 and was placed into the custody of the state DHHS and admitted to Riverview Psychiatric Center in Augusta.

On Friday, Dr. Andrew Wisch and Dr. Ann LeBlanc, both psychologists, testified on their findings on Brown. Both concluded that despite high, potent dosages of two antipsychotic medications he is still delusional.

Wisch said Brown is acutely paranoid and thinks that people are trying to steal his money and to kill him, and that his attorney, Woody Hanstein, who has known Brown since he was 12, is in cohoots with state prosecutors against him.

Brown has two previous felony convictions of threatening with dangerous weapons and has previously been involuntarily committed more than once to a mental health institution.

By law, a person who has committed a felony or been involuntarily committed to a mental health institution is prohibited from possessing firearms, but Brown does not comprehend that, Assistant District Attorney Andrew Robinson said.

“I’ve been in so much trouble with guns, I never, ever want to have one again,” Brown told Jabar.

Jabar said this raises a red flag, in light of the Virginia Tech incident where 33 people were killed by a person who had mental health issues and had gotten a gun.