RICHLAND CO.—A two-county bad-boy (Richland and Edwards) has finally caused enough trouble for himself that he’s become the subject of a probate in his new home county.
Austin Hulett, 25, formerly of Albion and now of Calhoun, has gone from unlawful consumption of alcohol by a minor in Richland County five years ago to a recent Burglary charge in Edwards just this past October.
However, next set for a pre-trial conference on the Burglary for August after the most recent appearance in late February in Edwards, Hulett might not make it to the upcoming hearing.
That’s because in May, Hulett had what can only be described as a drug-induced freakout, if court documents are any indication.
Drug-induced ‘crisis’
On file in Richland County is the report, made by Southeastern Illinois Counseling Centers, wherein Hulett, on May 13, was brought to the Richland Memorial Hospital (RMH) Emergency Room on a “crisis” basis.
“Austin Hulett was brought to the hospital by the Sheriff’s Department,” the court documents state. “Client was evasive. He reports that someone has been given drugs/chemicals during the night. Client is not tracking well, he was going somewhere with his father, got out of the truck and then the officers picked him up and brought him to the hospital.”
The Crisis Report noted that most of the facilities downstate that handle mental patients—RMH, Choate in Anna, Sarah Bush in Mattoon and St. Mary’s in Decatur—had “no beds” available. And Mulberry Center in Harrisburg, when contacted, denied admission for Hulett (reason not given…but it could probably be guessed at.)
“It appears he has psychosis NOS (not otherwise specified) or paranoid schizophrenia, which is drug-induced,” the paperwork on Hulett stated.
Generally speaking, “psychosis not otherwise specified” means that a patient has experienced a break from reality in an independent (singular) episode, according to medical books’ terminologies. In order to have an actual diagnosis of schizophrenia, a person must have been diagnosed with more than one such psychotic episode (hearing voices, believing in things that are not real [delusions], etc) within six months.
Court follow-up revealing
The medical follow up was not clear as regards treatment…but the court follow-up was.
On May 16, Rodney W. Hulett, 54, of Calhoun, was appointed temporary guardianship of the estate and person of Austin Hulett after he put forth a petition for such.
Declaring Austin Hulett a disabled person, his father petitioned that he needed temporary guardianship because “It appears (Austin) has psychosis NOS or paranoid schizophrenia which is drug-induced, resulting in delusional disorder and paranoid type and because of such disability lacks sufficient understanding and capacity to make or communicate responsible decisions concerning the care of his person and is unable to manage his estate or financial affairs.”
In short, this may or may not mean that the incident on the 13th was temporary in nature at all…and may mean that ongoing drug use has fried Hulett’s brain.
While it’s a technicality of the petition for guardianship to mention “estate or financial affairs,” it appears, according to further paperwork, that there really isn’t either one of those.
In the filings, the elder Hulett indicates that the approximate value of the estate in personal terms is “nominal,” and the value of real estate is zero.
Likewise, that “anticipated gross annual income and other receipts” for the younger Hulett is also zero.
Austin Hulett was declared a disabled adult on that date by the court and his guardianship was given to his father.
Past harassment brought forward
The case is of particular interest because of Hulett’s—and his sister’s, Kacie Brown’s—past harassment of Disclosure for merely publishing Hulett’s criminal antics in 2009.
At that time, both Hulett and Brown emailed and called Disclosure, issuing threats; in Hulett’s case, the threats were of physical harm to Disclosure staff and underage children when they were living in Browns, only miles away from Hulett’s various crash joints at the time, which were spread out among locations in Browns, Bone Gap and Albion.
In fact, Hulett’s case was among the first Disclosure had to contend with as regards whining about use of photos from a social networking site (MySpace, more popular at the time among errant kids than Facebook is now), with the attendant threats of lawsuits and the like, all of which was futile on the part of Hulett and Brown. Use of one photo in particular was instrumental, however, in advising local law enforcement at the time that Hulett could be considered a legitimate threat to Disclosure: the one shown in accompaniment of this article, in which Hulett displayed a weapon. In connection with the threats, this and other photos were taken seriously by law enforcement, who advised Disclosure at the time to be vigilant, since Hulett wasn’t considered the most stable of individuals even five years ago.
At the very least, the “disabled” declaration will ensure that the progression of the pending felony charge in Edwards will be slowed considerably, as Hulett’s current condition lends to the argument that he is “unable to assist in his own defense” in any criminal charge.
Whether this is a real condition or one that will stabilize once Hulett gets off the drugs that the court has decided “induced” it, remains to be seen: A July 10 hearing on the probate matter has been scheduled.