``he thought he was king of the new world order.''
Published Thursday, Jan. 18, 2001, in the San Jose Mercury News
Blast renews debate over safety at Capitol.
Trucker had long history of mental illness
Investigators seek Capitol blast clues
BY LORI ARATANI, DION NISSENBAUM,
BARBARA FEDER AND CHERYL DEVALL
Mercury News
The Southern California man state officials believe drove his truck into the state Capitol was a sometimes violent parolee with a long history of mental illness who had been in and out of prisons and mental hospitals for more than a decade.
Michael Bowers, 37, had ``delusions of grandeur'' and thought that one day he would be the leader of what he called ``the new world order,'' according to mental health workers. But in 1999, when state officials sought to keep him in custody, a Riverside County jury released him.
Wednesday, as teams of investigators, including officials from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, combed through the charred wreckage of the big rig, new details began to emerge about the man who was behind the wheel. Witnesses said that Bowers hit speeds of 70 mph before slamming into the building Tuesday night -- just after lawmakers ended a late session on the state's power crisis.
Even as officials set up a chain-link fence around the crash scene and hundreds of stunned gawkers gathered around, lawmakers continued their marathon efforts to craft a solution to the state's electricity woes. Capitol staffers brought in large fans to help clear the air, but the acrid smell of burned rubber and smoke permeated the water-stained halls of the old Capitol building.
Wednesday evening, workers removed the truck, which had been lodged between two blackened arches, just below the Senate chambers. Earlier in the day, investigators removed the body of the driver.
``I think all of us very much regret the incredible incident last night that resulted in the loss of one life and certainly scared the heck out of everyone in the Capitol,'' said Gov. Gray Davis, who said he would be meeting with lawmakers over the next few weeks to increase security without limiting the public's access to the Capitol.
Officials said it was clear that Bowers deliberately crashed the truck. Witnesses reported that he circled the streets around the Capitol twice before he jumped the curb and slammed into the south side of the historic building. A skid mark in the grass marked the spot where Bowers apparently shifted gears to gain speed to climb the granite steps.
Police said there was no evidence that Bowers was part of a larger conspiracy.
Family members said that Bowers had a troubled past, but seemed to be moving forward with his life. He'd recently earned his commercial truck license and seemed content.
Even so, leaning against the doorway of her mobile home near Perris, an exhausted Shirley Bowers said her son continued to harbor deep resentment toward a justice system that he thought had treated him unfairly. But she refused to believe he was suicidal.
``I just can't think he'd kill himself,'' she said. ``I heard he was tooting his horn. Maybe he just lost control of his truck. It could have been an accident.
``He wasn't a terrorist. He was a mental patient.''
For nearly all his adult life, Bowers was confined to prisons or state mental hospitals. State mental health authorities declined to provide his official diagnosis, citing patient confidentiality. But from 1995 to 1999, he was housed at Atascadero State and Patton hospitals.
But Valerie Mraz, supervising district attorney in Riverside County, told the Associated Press that Bowers had ``schizo-affective disorder.'' She also said that on Jan. 2, Bowers pleaded guilty to spousal abuse. He was placed on three years' probation and ordered to attend anger-management classes.
Tom Stewart, a family friend, blamed the state prison system for not doing more to help Bowers. He said he believed Bowers' mental problems began while Bowers was serving time at the California Men's Colony in San Luis Obispo. That was when Bowers began talking about world domination, Stewart said, and before long, ``he thought he was king of the new world order.''
Bowers' troubles began in 1986, when he was sentenced to two years for assaulting a police officer in Mono County. After serving the sentence, he was in and out of prison three times for apparent parole violations. In August 1989, he was arrested in Riverside County for beating his girlfriend's 2-year-old daughter, according to Mraz.
He served three years of a six-year sentence for corporal punishment and was subsequently sent to Atascadero State Hospital for mental health treatment.
Stephen Green, a spokesman for the California Youth and Adult Correctional Agency, said that while in prison, Bowers frequently reacted violently to the simplest of instructions from his jailers.
In September 1998, a judge ordered that Bowers be sent to Patton State Hospital. As required by law, Bowers had his annual re-evaluation in 1999. State mental health officials and prosecutors in Riverside County sought to have him recommitted, arguing that his past violent behavior made him a risk for release.
At the trial, mental health experts testified that Bowers still had delusions of playing a key role in something he called ``the New World Order.''
The jury rejected the argument that Bowers presented a danger to the community -- although jurors did acknowledge he was sufficiently mentally ill to require medication. Upon his release from Patton, Bowers promised that he would continue taking his medicine and attend 12-step meetings to end his drug and alcohol abuse.
Until he was released from Patton in 1999, Bowers was legally classified as a ``mentally disordered offender,'' a tiny subset of inmates in California's correctional system.
Although some mentally disordered offenders are provided with ``transition services'' once they are released to the community, Bowers was not because the jury decided he no longer belonged in that category of patients.
``We did not want him released,'' said Nora Romero, spokeswoman for the California Department of Mental Health. ``There was nothing we could do to keep him in our program.''
Advocates for the rights of mental health patients say such patients deserve the right to a jury trial and other constitutional protections. But prosecutors have on occasion questioned whether such mechanisms are the best way to protect the patient and the public. Prosecutors also question the ``beyond a reasonable doubt'' burden they must shoulder in demonstrating the inmate's potential for violence, wondering if a lesser standard would provide more protection.
``It becomes a battle of experts. How do we look into this person's mind and see if they'll do something again? The benefit of the doubt goes to the defendant,'' said David LaBahn, deputy executive director for the California District Attorneys Association. ``You could absolutely question who's the best person to sit in judgment of these mentally ill offenders.''
Earlier this month, Bowers got a job as a driver with Utah-based Dick Simon Trucking Inc. Kelle Simon, the firm's president, said the background check the company conducted on Bowers did not indicate a criminal history. She called the incident ``extremely embarrassing.''
Shirley Bowers said her son stayed with her for seven months after his release in 1999. She lost track of him after he moved out, but he returned home for Thanksgiving dinner this past November. The two last spoke on Jan. 4, she said.
``He sounded well,'' she said.
Investigators initially thought Bowers might have targeted the Capitol building because of a longstanding grudge against Davis. But officials said Wednesday there was no evidence of threats to state officials.
Even in hindsight, said Mraz, the supervising district attorney in Riverside County, the system had done all it could to help Bowers and prevent him from hurting others.
``Human behavior is sometimes unpredictable, and unless we find a way to fix that, I don't know how we address the potential for future behavior like this,'' she said.
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Mercury News staffers Ed Pope, Hallye Jordan and Chris Hardesty contributed to this story.
