BRADENTON, Fla. — A Bradenton man is behind bars charged with the murder of his mother and her boyfriend.
Family members tell 10 Investigates that while Thomas Matejcek sits in a jail cell, he’s refusing to take his court-ordered medication. They worry that once again, he’ll be ruled incompetent and worry he’ll be back on the streets.
Matejcek was arrested in November and charged with two counts of first-degree murder.
Manatee County deputies were called just after 12 p.m. on Nov. 10 about a disturbance in the Arbor Terrace RV community on 55th Avenue West in Bradenton. According to the sheriff's office, neighbors heard a woman screaming for help and called 911. Deputies said they arrived to find 62-year-old Patricia Matejcek and her boyfriend, 55-year-old Sean Harrison Sr., dead on the floor of a home.
Patti Matejcek’s sister, Krista Kale, who is also Thomas’s aunt told 10 Investigates in February that her nephew was behind bars two years ago for strangling his mom, but he was let out of jail after being ruled incompetent.
Now, they wonder what can happen if he refuses to take the meds prescribed to keep him competent as he faces two first-degree murder charges. Kale shared with us her nephew’s medication logs for a few weeks. The records show that after returning to jail from a treatment facility, he refused his medication almost every single day.
10 Investigates found an order from the court that says if a defendant is prescribed medicine by the state mental facility and the defendant refuses the medication, the jail should notify the court immediately, so the issue can be dealt with at the next hearing. The document even notes that continued medication, if needed, is key to maintaining his competence.
“He needs to take that medication. They say he doesn’t fit qualifications to stay at medical facility any longer and is competent,” Kale said. “As of last Friday, he’s been there two-three weeks, and he’s taken one shot in that amount of time.”
The state’s attorney tells us in an email, “It is correct that he is refusing to take the medication and the medical staff at the jail is unwilling to administer the medication on an involuntary basis.”
They went on to say that, “I spoke to counsel (Gregg Toomey) representing the medical services at the jail (Yescare) and he has represented to me that it would be illegal for a jail to forcibly medicate an inmate. He said that there are special laws governing the State Hospital (run by DCF-Dept of Children & Families) and that they are allowed to forcibly medicate patients but those laws do not exist for jails. I have not been able to independently verify this information and the counsel for the State Hospital seemed to disagree with this assessment.
Regardless, we have a hearing tomorrow morning to address his refusal to take his medication. I don't really know what the judge has planned for the hearing but there are several possible results:
1) the judge could speak with Matejcek and impress upon him the necessity of taking his medication and hope he complies. If his competency continues to decline he can be sent back to the State Hospital where they will forcibly medicate him.
2) the judge could make the decision just to send him back to the hospital without awaiting further information
3) the judge could order the jail to forcibly medicate him in which case the medical provider would fight against it and require further court hearings
If absolutely necessary, the State has the option of asking the Court to hold Matejcek at the State Hospital pending trial (instead of at the jail) to keep up with medication and to guarantee his competence for trial but I would assume the defense may fight that proposition.”