A Kansas man accused of threatening to assassinate President Joe Biden is a former Army paratrooper who suffers crippling PTSD from his service in Afghanistan, where he was involved in a “chaotic” firefight in which he accidentally killed a young child standing next to a Taliban fighter.
That’s according to new court filings reviewed by The Daily Beast, which offer additional insight into the alleged threats.
Scott Ryan Merryman, 37, was arrested last month after claiming he had been instructed by God to “lop off the head of the serpent in the heart of the nation,” which allegedly meant murdering Biden by delivering a “fatal head wound,” states a criminal complaint filed Jan. 28 in Baltimore federal court. Merryman, who now works as a construction contractor, was intercepted by the Secret Service in the parking lot of a Hagerstown, Maryland, Cracker Barrel, where he informed agents he “had to deliver a message to President Biden, and advise him that people were fed up with the divisiveness in the country and to turn back to God (or go to hell),” the filing explains.
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After making “numerous comments about God, being guided by God, cloaked in the ‘blood of the lamb,’ and armored by God,” Merryman was taken into custody by police, who found a loaded magazine for a .45 on him and a spotting scope in his backpack, which Merryman said was for “recon,” warning he was “coming for his bitch ass sleepy Joe,” prosecutors claim.
Merryman had a “decorated” five-year stint in Army Airborne, enlisting in 2005 at the age of 20, his court-appointed lawyers said in a letter sent Monday to Chief Judge James K. Breder of the federal district court in Baltimore. He spent 15 months in Afghanistan, where he was a member of a tactical human intelligence team and worked at a prisoner of war camp.
While there, Merryman saved the life of a fellow soldier who had been shot, the letter says. But he also experienced severe “war trauma” from witnessing the death of his partner and inadvertently shooting and killing an innocent child.
“The emotional and physical toll of Scott’s time in Afghanistan was extensive,” states the letter. “While still in the Army, Scott was hospitalized for five days in 2008 with suicidal thoughts. He was hospitalized again in 2009, this time for two weeks, due to unstable mental health and changes in medication.”
Merryman later became addicted to oxycodone after back surgery in 2010 that “failed to alleviate severe chronic pain resulting from his airborne service.” He retired from the Army as disabled in May of that year, having earned numerous medals, the letter says.
But health-care professionals have not been able to effectively treat Merryman’s mental health issues, his lawyers contend, claiming this led to an intense downward spiral culminating in Merryman’s arrest last month on charges that he planned to kill the president.
Merryman’s first suicide attempt came in 2011, after then-Rep. Mike Pompeo’s office helped the disabled veteran get a bed in an acute psychiatric unit at a VA hospital in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the letter says.
In 2018, Merryman’s attorneys say a friend of his called the VA crisis line over concern that Merryman “had voiced suicidal ideations and was in a dark place.” He then began treatment for PTSD and depression, according to the letter.
“Scott’s mental health again declined precipitously in 2021,” it explains. “On March 30, 2021, Scott was admitted to the emergency room suffering from severe depression, suicidal ideation, and alcohol intoxication.”
The VA then placed Merryman on its “Suicide High Risk List,” and his then-girlfriend tried to get him into inpatient treatment in his hometown of Topeka, but Merryman instead opted for outpatient counseling and group therapy. In late May 2021, Merryman called the VA “in crisis.” His father got on the phone, telling a therapist that Merryman had attempted suicide several times over the past few days. The VA said they would “notify his mental health provider for follow-up,” and instead of being admitted to the hospital, police took Merryman into custody overnight.
Without proper medical intervention, Merryman continued to decline, his lawyers claim. Last June, Merryman attempted suicide again and had to be airlifted to a trauma center. After four days in the hospital, Merryman was released.
“Despite his family’s best efforts, no inpatient intervention was provided by the VA,” the letter continues. “Once Scott was medically stable, he was discharged from the hospital on to outpatient care only.”
Upon completing a 21-day stint in rehab for alcohol abuse last July, Merryman enjoyed a period of “relative stability,” according to his attorneys. In August, he married his girlfriend Hannah, and began organizing events for veterans and their families. But after he spent 10 days unable to get off the couch, Merryman’s wife became concerned that he might be bipolar.
In December, Merryman reportedly told his wife he was going to kill himself. A group of veteran friends were able to get Merryman into a rehab program in Pennsylvania and hoped for the best. However, he checked himself out after a week and flew back to Kansas.
Merryman with his mom.
via Liz Oyer, Esq.It was at this point that Merryman’s troubles compounded. He told his wife that “they are going to be a warrior team to do things for God,” and that “she just needs to let him do what God is asking him to do,” his lawyers said, noting that Merryman told his therapist that he was fine and that “God has been letting him know what he needs to do.”
A week before Christmas, multiple friends of Merryman’s—who had by now stopped taking his medication—began expressing concerns about his mental health.
“Mark my words given freely from Christ... you’re in it,” Merryman wrote on Facebook. “Do I want to die by the beast and have my flesh rot in the streets for three days. You think Hannah is a mess right now? Wait til she lives out this prophecy being fulfilled through the King of Kings in me. Dead at 40 going out like a rock start [sic] doing God’s work for His kingdom and glory. Get on the train. Choo choooo. It’s leaving soon. Someone get me a shot of Thorazine.”
Merryman’s father submitted a photo to the court of his son’s Army medals.
U.S. District Court for the District of MarylandThe VA’s suicide prevention coordinator called the Eastern Kansas VA to arrange emergency inpatient care for Merryman but was told that “we do not have any available beds in acute psychiatry at this time,” according to his lawyers’ letter.
Over the holidays, Merryman’s wife kicked him out of the house over her children’s concerns about his behavior, and he moved in with his dad. At the same time, his VA medication provider left for a new job, and Merryman cut off contact with his doctors.
On Jan. 25, Merryman left Kansas and drove to the D.C. area with an alleged plan to kill Joe Biden.
“There will be a miracle at the White House,” Merryman posted on Facebook the next day. “I believe Joe Biden is the AntiChrist now and he will suffer a fatal head wound. I’ll deal that wound in Christ’s name. Bro…. This is getting deep. And I’m going to do it with bullets and no gun… I’m fighting for the souls of this great nation.”
After a confrontation with Secret Service agents at the Cracker Barrel in Hagerstown, Merryman caused another scene at a local motel, according to a government motion to keep him detained.
Merryman “traveled over 1,100 miles from his home in Kansas, to the State of Maryland, with the express intent of getting to the White House, to kill the President of the United States,” it says. “Between January 26, 2022, and the filing of federal charges, Defendant threatened to kill the President of the United States on several occasions. During that time, Defendant also threatened two Secret Service Special Agents—one in Kansas, and one in Washington, D.C.”
At the motel, Merryman declined to pay for his stay, insisting that “the room would be paid for by Joe Biden,” according to a local police report included in the filing. When cops arrived on the scene, Merryman “was chanting religious dialogue and speaking in tongues loudly,” the report states. After refusing to leave the premises, officers arrested Merryman for disorderly conduct. While searching him, they found a magazine for a .45 caliber handgun containing “several live rounds of ammunition,” the report says. There was also a spotting scope in Merryman’s backpack, which he claimed was for “recon,” according to the feds.
Merryman remains detained on charges of making threats against the president of the United States and interstate communications containing a threat to harm. In their latest court filing, Merryman’s attorneys, Sasha Garcon and Elizabeth Genevieve Oyer, say they have asked the VA to “assume responsibility for proposing a treatment plan… that would provide [Merryman] with the care [he] needs and also address the safety concerns raised by the Court.” However, they claim the VA “has not provided any assurances about the care that they would provide for Mr. Merryman if released from custody.”
Merryman’s family “is understandably afraid” for him, as he awaits trial in a solitary cell at the Prince George’s County Detention Center. They are also “frustrated with the VA’s unwillingness to take ownership of his care,” the letter says, concluding, “As Scott’s mother put it, ‘They broke him, but they won’t fix him.’”
In an email to The Daily Beast, Oyer said, “The criminal charges that Scott is facing are the result of an acute mental health crisis. Unfortunately, despite many clear warning signs, and dogged efforts by Scott’s family, the VA failed to intervene and provide the help he needed. Scott has been under the care of the VA for over a decade because of physical and mental trauma sustained in Afghanistan. He is a decorated combat veteran who deserves better than the solitary jail cell where he has spent the last two weeks.”
