Oil patch drug gang: Court rejects appeal

BISMARCK, N.D. — A member of a violent gang in North Dakota’s oil patch who blamed his angry outbursts during court proceedings on a traumatic brain injury has lost his appeal seeking a competency hearing in federal court.

Brian Dahl was sentenced in November 2014 to 17 years in prison for conspiring to distribute large quantities of methamphetamine and possessing a firearm during a drug-trafficking crime. Investigators said Dahl was a member of a group of people who called themselves “The Family” and brought attention to crime in oil country after some members attacked another member in 2012, and left him for dead in Montana.

The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals released an opinion Monday rejecting Dahl’s argument that the brain injury he suffered in a 2007 truck accident made it difficult for him to understand the proceedings. Dahl asked the court to reconsider a judge’s refusal to grant a psychological examination and competency hearing.

The three-judge court panel noted that Dahl was diagnosed with “mild cognitive impairment,” but said his medical reports didn’t prove he was incompetent or that the injury could be blamed for him yelling at the judge, prosecutor and marshals during his sentencing hearing.

“Dahl’s outbursts in the courtroom displayed anger and a lack of decorum; they were ill-advised but not irrational,” 8th Circuit Judge Michael Malloy wrote.

Defense attorney Chad McCabe said he was hoping the court would want to delve further into Dahl’s mental issues.

“I’m disappointed by the ruling,” McCabe said. “After oral arguments, I thought the court was going to side with our position, but I guess I was wrong.”

Dahl was one of seven men accused in the drug conspiracy, but he was not charged in the kidnapping of the fellow gang member, who was beaten with brass knuckles, shocked with a stun gun, slashed with a razor blade and dumped 40 miles away in Montana. The man survived.