BISMARCK -- A judge has ordered the release of Jessica Tsao, who has been a prison inmate at Burleigh County Detention Center for nearly 180 days, to West Central Human Service Center in Bismarck.
South Central District Judge James Hill said Tsao should be released to a “less confined setting” and has served more time than she would have gotten under any charges.
Tsao's case has been fraught with delays and confusion in obtaining a mental health evaluation. She was arrested in August for stealing a rental car, which she drove from California to Bismarck.
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“Your conditions are simply this: You remain in Burleigh-Morton counties until this is resolved,” said the visibly upset judge, allowing Tsao to be released on a $1,000 unsecured bond.
Tsao, who was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia in April, is required to stay at West Central pending a criminal competency evaluation at the North Dakota State Hospital on March 16.
“I can assure you, Ms. Tsao, I am going to work to get that moved up if I can,” Hill said.
Mary Lin, a Bay Area-based lawyer who represents Snowy Zhou, Tsao's mother, and has been serving as a translator to help build Tsao’s defense, said she hopes the judge's action will help expedite a mental health evaluation.
Lin said her and Zhou’s No. 1 goal is to get a psychological evaluation done to try to get Tsao back on her medications.
Tsao, who appeared late to her hearing on Friday, agreed to the bond’s conditions. She said in court Friday she doesn’t want to take medication and still refuses to speak with her mother.
Andrew Delain, assistant state's attorney at Burleigh County State's Attorney's office, said the state will continue to prosecute the case, but highlighted fears the state had with releasing Tsao from jail.
She has no place to go and no ties to the community, Delain said Friday.
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Several court orders had been filed to get Tsao a criminal competency exam, but none were followed.
Tsao was first scheduled to have a criminal competency exam Dec. 8 at the State Hospital. By January, an evaluation still hadn’t been performed, and another evaluation was scheduled for March 23.
Late last month, an earlier exam was approved to take place within 30 days at West Central. The evaluation date was again changed last week, and another request was made to transport Tsao to the state hospital March 16 for an evaluation.
Hill questioned both the prosecutor and Kent Morrow, Tsao’s public defender, as to why there were multiple orders but none have been followed.
“I can see only continuing delay with this woman sitting in jail,” Hill said.
Delain said Tsao didn’t receive a mental health evaluation at the State Hospital in December because there was a delay in getting necessary criminal and medical documents to the hospital.
The hospital made three separate attempts to contact Kent Morrow, Tsao's lawyer, for these documents, Delain said.
Morrow said Friday he was willing to take some of the blame in not getting her records to the State Hospital. Morrow said he hasn’t been able to consult with Tsao, who has refused to meet with him.
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Still, the judge, prosecutor defense attorney came to accord Friday and agreed there shouldn’t be any further delay in getting Tsao a mental health exam.
