Outcome of case against man who killed fellow inmate at St. Peter hospital angers victim’s family

Psychiatric hospital patient Abdirashid Mohamed Hussein was found bludgeoned to death in the early morning of New Year’s Day, killed with an electric guitar by his roommate at the state-operated psychiatric hospital in St. Peter.

David Michael Otey, the man who killed Hussein, was acquitted on June 21 of unintentional murder and three counts of assault due to his mental illness. In court documents, Judge Allison Krehbiel determined prosecutors proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Otey committed the murder, but she concluded that Otey’s attorneys had successfully established a mental illness defense.

Hussein’s brother says he feels justice wasn’t served. He is calling for operational changes to prevent future killings in psychiatric hospitals.

“I feel very upset because there isn’t going to be accountability for my brother’s murder,” Abshir Hussein said.

Around 1 a.m. on Jan. 1, police responded to the North Campus of the Forensic Mental Health Program, once known as Minnesota Security Hospital. Otey told a staff member that he hit Hussein in the head, according to the charges. Otey put one of the hospital workers in a chokehold when others went to check on Hussein, charges say. When police arrived, they spoke with Otey to calm him down and arrested him. Hussein was found in the room with blood pooling around him.

The facility is operated by the Department of Human Services. In a statement, DHS said data privacy laws prohibit sharing information on specific patients. But Health System CEO Marshall E. Smith wrote that the staffers who knew Hussein are saddened over the death.

“The family of Abdi Hussein has suffered an inconsolable loss,” Smith said. “They are understandably heartbroken and in pain, as any one of us would be in the face of such a tragedy. Our staff who knew and helped him in his treatment are also deeply saddened by his loss.”

Representing Hussein’s family, attorney Jeff Storms said he plans to file a lawsuit over the killing. He said he thinks it was foreseeable, and that tighter restrictions are needed to protect patients.

“If we’re going to have a criminal justice system that continues to acquit murderers for mental illness reasons, we need to have a way to house those individuals where other people are safe who are required to be around them,” Storms said.

Otey was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2011. His attorney, Elizabeth Levine, said she thinks the acquittal was a just outcome. But she also said she thinks there were “underlying issues” with the way the hospital has been run that should be addressed.

“I think some more attention could have been paid to some warning signs that Mr. Otey exhibited,” said Levine, who works for the state’s Fifth District Public Defender’s Office.

Otey became anxious and was having trouble sleeping in September after he was served multiple restraining orders, including one from his ex-wife, Krehbiel wrote in the findings of a fact document. He began missing therapy sessions, which he had “almost never done” before receiving the restraining orders, Krehbiel wrote.

Otey was first admitted to the facility after killing his sister in 2018. In its prepared statement, DHS said most patients at the St. Peter facility are civilly committed as mentally ill and dangerous. Patients generally go from a secure setting to gradually less-secure treatment settings, in a “careful, deliberative process that involves multiple experts in the field of forensic psychiatry and psychology.”

The patients are given greater liberty as they progress in their treatment and demonstrate improved psychiatric stability, DHS said. The department said this process includes review by the patient’s treatment team, a security review team, risk examiners and consideration by a forensic review panel.

Levine said it’s a complex situation because Hussein and Otey were eligible for lower-level security setting as they prepared for a possible return to the community. Krehbiel wrote that Otey and Hussein did not appear to have had problems with each other before the killing.

During a psychiatric evaluation in the criminal case, Otey said he believed Hussein was immortal at the time, and that hitting him would somehow resolve his problems, the document reads. He had stayed up late that night playing a violent video game, and was disoriented after thinking he heard his ex-wife’s maiden name in the game, it states.

That doctor said it was a “close call” whether Otey should be held criminally responsible, but ultimately recommended the court find him not guilty due to his mental illness.

The hospital in St. Peter has a history of troubles. In 2011 the facility was put on “conditional status” for overuse of restraints and seclusion. A few years later a report from the legislative auditor identified chronic management and safety failures as assaults on staff and residents rose.

A patient died of head trauma in 2014 when another patient punched him and stomped his head.

In 2015, DHS drew a fine from OSHA for failing to protect workers at the psychiatric hospital. The hospital’s conditional license restriction was lifted in 2016 following attempts at reform, which included training staff on how to identify and respond to potentially violent situations.

The facility has been subject to about two dozen maltreatment investigations over the last four years.

Hussein’s brother added he’s concerned about the safety of other patients at the St. Peter facility due to the fact Otey was ordered to be returned. Otey was no longer on the Nicollet County jail log as of Monday.

Star Tribune staff writer Jessie Van Berkel contributed to this story.