Judge orders 30-day mental evaluation of accused White House intruder

A federal judge on Tuesday ordered that Omar Gonzalez, the accused White House fence-jumper, undergo an extensive 30-day mental evaluation to determine if he is competent to stand trial.

Gonzalez faces additional charges after the Justice Department released a new six-count indictment Friday. But the court delayed his arraignment on those charges, until a more extensive competency hearing is completed. A preliminary one-hour screening found him not fit, and U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer set his next hearing for Dec. 3.

Gonzalez, whose alleged security breach put the Secret Service under scrutiny and led to the resignation of its director, appeared in court Tuesday to face additional charges that included two federal counts of assaulting or resisting officers. He came into the courtroom without handcuffs and remained silent throughout the proceedings, outside of whispering to his attorney.

Federal prosecutors say Gonzalez, 42, scaled a fence and entered the White House with a knife before finally being brought down by a Secret Service agent. On Friday, the government indicted him on three more charges, bringing the total count to six. He now faces a maximum of 33 years in prison.

Gonzalez’s lawyer, David Bos, initially protested a federal magistrate judge’s order to perform a brief competency screening. But an evaluation was performed, despite the District Court’s order to postpone any exam until after an appeal.

Gonzalez has pleaded not guilty to his initial charges, but the court delayed his arraignment on the new charges until his competency hearing.

“There is no doubt in my mind that Mr. Gonzalez is competent to proceed to trial,” Bos said in court Tuesday. He added that he’s not challenging the new order because he wants to quell all concerns about Gonzalez’s mental state.

Collyer expressed concerns about the prison system and said she feared a lack of resources could keep Gonzalez “languishing” in prison. She referenced a previous case, where a prisoner spent months waiting because the state mental health facility didn’t have an extra bed.

“We live, post sequestration, in a very skinny system,” she said. “There isn’t enough money to address these sorts of issues.”

In spite of those concerns, Collyer ordered a test to be performed within 30 days and set benchmarks for lawyers to report back on its progress. While she said Gonzalez faces “very serious charges,” she praised him for his previous Army service.

“Mr. Gonzalez himself has served this country very well, and he deserves our respect,” she said. “I don’t want him hanging around the D.C. jail for a year, waiting.”

—This story was posted at 4:37 p.m. and updated at 5:09 p.m. and 8:39 p.m.