Anaconda man accused in Helena clinic shooting plans mental health defense

The Anaconda man accused of planning to kill an abortion provider in Missoula and firing into a Helena Planned Parenthood clinic is now preparing a mental health-related defense, a move that could shift the case into a longer fight over competency, criminal responsibility and psychiatric evidence. Charles Felix Jones, 20, remains in the Missoula County jail on $5 million bail, while Lewis and Clark County prosecutors have not said whether they will file charges.

In Montana courts, a mental health defense can change the pace and shape of a prosecution. Before a case can move to trial, judges may have to decide whether a defendant can understand the proceedings and help his lawyer. Separate questions can arise about whether a mental health condition affected responsibility at the time of the alleged acts. That means the case could hinge as much on expert evaluations and courtroom hearings as on the underlying allegations.

The Helena case goes back to Oct. 5, 2023, when police said someone fired two shotgun rounds into the front entry of the Planned Parenthood of Montana health center on the 1500 block of Cannon Street shortly before 5:45 p.m. No one was injured, and the clinic had already closed for the day. Helena police asked the public to help identify a suspect wearing a plaid shirt, blue jeans and a baseball cap, and said a blue-green station wagon was a vehicle of interest.

Planned Parenthood of Montana temporarily closed the Helena site and rescheduled patients after the shooting. Mary Sullivan said at the time that the organization was coordinating closely with law enforcement and that its doors would remain open. The attack drew immediate political reaction, with Rep. Zooey Zephyr tying the shooting to heated abortion rhetoric and then-U.S. Sen. Jon Tester condemning the threat.

The broader backdrop is one of repeated threats to abortion access in Montana. Montana Public Radio has reported that the 1993 arson at Blue Mountain Clinic in Missoula was part of a violent period of anti-abortion attacks in the 1990s and 2000s, and that the U.S. Department of Justice has pursued dozens of criminal and civil cases over obstructing, threatening or damaging clinics since 2011. In 2022 alone, federal prosecutors charged 26 people, more than in the previous three years combined. The National Abortion Federation also reported sharp increases in stalking, clinic invasions and assaults from 2020 to 2021.

Planned Parenthood of Montana CEO Martha Fuller said in March that the organization was working with law enforcement on a security-related investigation, while keeping all of its health centers open and seeing patients in a safe environment. For Helena and Lewis and Clark County, the case now sits at the intersection of public safety, reproductive health care and a justice system that may have to decide not only what happened, but whether the accused can be tried for it.