DEVILS LAKE, N.D. – The latest hearing for ex-Devils Lake Police Officer Rey Hennen was held via Zoom on Wednesday, April 29 at 9 a.m. at the Ramsey County Courthouse during which his new attorney continued with a motion filed previously to evaluate Hennen’s criminal responsibility. Hennen is currently facing multiple felony and misdemeanor charges alleging sexual assault, terrorizing, child endangerment and stalking after a standoff in September with Devils Lake Police.
Judge Anthony S. Benson, district court judge for the Northeast District, presided over the hearing remotely from the Bottineau County Courthouse. Assistant Attorney General Kathleen Murray for the prosecution appeared remotely from her office at the North Dakota State Capitol in Bismarck. Acting for the defense, Hennen’s newly appointed attorney David Dusek appeared remotely from his office in East Grand Forks, Minn., while his client Hennen appeared from Cass County Jail. The meeting began about 12 minutes late as Cass County was delayed in getting the meeting information for Hennen to join the Zoom conference.
Hennen’s previous attorney, Ulysses Jones, was forced to step down from the case in late March due to serious health issues; he died on April 8. The case was reassigned to Dusek on March 31, and a status conference was held virtually on April 17 to review with Dusek some of the particulars of the case. In today’s hearing, Judge Benson noted that Dusek had sufficient time to review the fitness evaluation from the state hospital, which determined Hennen was deemed competent to move forward with legal proceedings; Benson confirmed that Dusek reviewed the findings with Hennen. While Dusek and his client Hennen won’t contest the report for now, Dusek said that he may have a report done by an independent examiner at a later time, depending on how the state hospital evaluates Hennen’s criminal responsibility.
That led Benson to review Jones’ previously filed motion to determine criminal responsibility, and Benson confirmed with Dusek that he will maintain the request for an evaluation. Dusek said that he had talked with someone at the state hospital prior to the virtual hearing on Wednesday, confirming that they’re waiting for a criminal responsibility order with a transport order so that Hennen can be transported there for said evaluation.
Benson noted that Jones had filed separately for a criminal responsibility evaluation three times in the three separate cases against Hennen that were filed. “I am fairly confident they all contain the same language, have the same request or the same language, and the same order. They do have an order for transport.”
Prosecutor Murray had no objection to the motion for a criminal responsibility evaluation at the state hospital. Benson said he would sign the orders previously filed by Jones for the evaluation shortly after the virtual conference and add Dusek’s name to the order. “Once the report is provided to defense counsel, Mr. Dusek, if you could let us know, and then we’ll need to determine what hearing is necessary after that or if we just need to move this thing ahead,” Benson said.
After Benson determined that there were no further questions, the hearing was adjourned. The next hearing has not yet been scheduled.
During an investigation by Devils Lake Police last year on Sept. 9, Hennen had threatened to shoot himself at his home. While making these threats, his children were present in the house, but they were removed without incident. Hennen was initially arrested under felony charges of reckless endangerment with a firearm and terrorizing of an adult victim. Later charges were added, including two counts of neglect of a child, deceptive writings, and burglary, all class C felonies, as well as class A misdemeanor charges of false information to law enforcement and stalking. However, Hennen’s most serious charge is gross sexual imposition by force, a class AA felony which carries a potential life sentence.
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