COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — The case against the man who acknowledges killing three people in an attack on a Colorado Planned Parenthood clinic moves into a new phase while he awaits a mental competency evaluation, ordered after he defiantly told a judge he wanted to fire his public defender and represent himself.

It could be months before Robert Lewis Dear, 57, is seen by a doctor at the state mental hospital who will determine whether he is capable of making that decision. Dear faces 179 counts, including first-degree murder, attempted murder and other charges. In court earlier this month, he declared himself guilty and said he is “a warrior for the babies.”