A judge granted the request of an attorney seeking a delay in representing a Casper man sentenced to prison for aggravated vehicular homicide because he suffers from severe mental health issues and needs an evaluation, his public defender said Friday.

On Oct. 31, 2011, Tanner Vasquez was driving north on Bryan Stock Trail near Amoco Road at a high rate of speed, sideswiped a stopped vehicle, and then drove into a ditch, according to police records. Two passengers died from the crash, another survived, and Vasquez was placed on life support and later recovered.

Upon further investigation, officers found two cans of Dust Off inside Vasquez’s vehicle and a blood test confirmed that Vasquez had inhaled some of it.

He pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated vehicular homicide and District Court Thomas Sullins sentenced him in June 2013 to two seven- to eight-year sentences to be served concurrently, or at the same time.

Public Defender Robert Oldham told District Court Judge Thomas Sullins that Vasquez had suffered injuries to the frontal lobe of his brain and suffered mental impairment as a result.

Oldham had filed a motion to modify Vasquez's sentence and to continue this court action because the mental impairment has caused him problems at the Wyoming State Penitentiary.

For example, inmates tricked him into making a phone call that a guard interpreted as a threat, Oldham said. When authorities confronted Vasquez, he admitted to the phone call and was segregated from the prison population, he said.

Vasquez has difficulty reasoning, but he's honest, Oldham said. "So he's thrown into the hole."

Vasquez will never be able to earn "good time" to reduce his sentence if these kinds of incidents persist, he said.

Prison officials have his ability to meet with Vasquez, Oldham added. "I really don't understand that lack of cooperation."

Sullins responded that he should take up these issues with the Wyoming Department of Corrections.

But Oldham responded that Sullins didn't know of the extent of the mental impairment he sentenced Vasquez, and that to not address this issue could be an illegal sentence.

Assistant District Attorney Dan Itzen said the victims' families would like to see closure on this issue.

Sullins granted Oldham's motion for the mental health evaluation. "I'll continue this hearing," Sullins said.

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