| Lopez Was Hit By Train and
Threatened CSX Then Judge So Committed to
Hospital 4 Months
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
June 15 – Jonathan Lopez was
hit by a CSX train in
Pennsylvania in 2014 and
suffered traumatic brain
injury. He sued, civilly. Then
he drew a gun on his
lawyer.
Soon Lopez
was issuing threats on
Facebook: I walk out that
court room empty handed you
better kill me, the true is if
I can't live I'm ready to
die... If [the Judge] and [the
Attorney] thinks he's going to
retire with my misery you
misconstrue." He was
criminally convicted.
On
September 28 U.S. District
Court for the Southern
District of New York Judge
Paul A. Crotty held a
Violation of Supervised
release proceeding. Inner City
Press covered it.
Lopez'
Federal Defender showed up,
but not Lopez. Judge Crotty
recounted how Lopez has now
written, F*ck the judge. He
was asked to issue a bench
warrant.
The Federal
Defender asked for one more
chance.
But Judge Crotty
said this was a run-around. He
said to arrange for the bench
warrant.
And on May 11,
this: "COMPETENCY ORDER as to
Jonathan Lopez. It is,
therefore, hereby ORDERED,
pursuant to 18 U.S.C. 4241(a),
424l(c) and 4247(d), that a
competency hearing will
commence on Tuesday, June 15,
2021 at 11:30 AM in Courtroom
14C, 500 Pearl Street, New
York, New York 10007. The
Court reserves its right to
order a psychiatric or
psychological examination of
Mr. Lopez and a report on the
same prior to the hearing,
pursuant to 18 U.S.C. งง
424l(b), 4247(b), and 4247(c),
depending on the parties'
submissions in advance of the
hearing."
On May 12, Lopez'
counsel filed a letter
emphasizing that the Pre-Trial
Services report should not be
relied on for competency -
unless the Court considers
disclosing it to both sides.
And to the public? It would be
a judicial document...
Now on June 15,
this: "COMMITMENT ORDER as to
Jonathan Lopez: For the
reasons stated on the record
at the Competency Hearing held
pursuant to 18 U.S.C. §
424I(a) on June 15, 2021, the
Court "finds by a
preponderance of the evidence
that the defendant is
presently suffering from a
mental disease or defect
rendering him mentally
incompetent to the extent that
he is unable to understand the
nature and consequences of the
proceedings against him or to
assist properly in his
defense"; therefore, the
defendant is committed to the
custody of the Attorney
General for hospitalization
and evaluation in a suitable
facility pursuant to 18 U.S.C.
§ 4241(d)(l). This period of
hospitalization is not to
exceed four months unless
further extended by order of
the Court, and the director of
the chosen facility is
directed to provide the Court
with an update on the
defendant's progress within 60
days of the filing of this
order. SO ORDERED. (Signed by
Judge Paul A. Crotty on
6/15/2021)."
The case is US v.
Lopez, 19-cr-899 (Crotty)
***
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