Judiciary
Judge accused in drive-by shootings has progressive brain disease, court filing says
An Oklahoma judge accused in two drive-by shootings has frontotemporal dementia, a disease that can cause “bizarre out-of-character behavior” changes, his lawyers said in an Aug. 28 court filing. (Image from Shutterstock)
An Oklahoma judge accused in two drive-by shootings has frontotemporal dementia, a disease that can cause “bizarre out-of-character behavior” changes, his lawyers said in an Aug. 28 court filing.
Judge Brian Lovell, 59, of Garfield County, Oklahoma, is seeking medical retirement, according to the court filing by his lawyers, Stephen Jones and William Jewell.
The Enid News & Eagle, the Oklahoman and KWTV News 9 have coverage.
Lovell faces criminal charges in drive-by shootings in Texas and Oklahoma.
Lovell was arrested in an alleged shooting spree in Austin, Texas, in September. He was accused of shooting at eight parked cars from his vehicle and twice rear-ending another driver. Lovell acknowledged rear-ending another car but said he couldn’t remember the alleged shootings and doesn’t know why he would have fired his gun. Two handguns were found in his car.
Lovell is also accused of shooting at his brother-in-law’s home in Bison, Oklahoma, in February 2023. He became a suspect after his Texas arrest. Police say the same gun was used in both shootings, according to the Enid News & Eagle.
The frontotemporal diagnosis was revealed in a court filing seeking to avoid Lovell’s removal from office without a hearing. The removal petition accuses Lovell of bias in his courtroom and affairs with two bailiffs that included courthouse sex, according to the articles.
After Lovell’s September arrest, Jones told the Oklahoman that he remembers the judge as “always congenial, reasonable.”
The court filing said frontotemporal dementia “is progressive until death, and there is no known treatment or cure,” according to the Enid News & Eagle.
The court filing said symptoms of the disease include “loss of memory, irritability, bizarre out-of-character behavior, sudden inappropriate impulses, impaired judgment, … a change in personality, decreased inhibitions, and subtle episodes of apathy.”
According to information cited by the Oklahoman from the Mayo Clinic, symptoms of frontotemporal dementia depend of the portion of the brain affected.
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