NEW YORK (AP) — A federal decide dominated Friday that the previous CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch isn’t competent to stand trial on sex trafficking charges and ordered him hospitalized to see if his psychological situation improves.
Michael Jeffries’ legal professionals sought the ruling final month, writing in a letter filed in a New York federal courtroom that the 80-year-old requires around-the-clock care as a result of he has Alzheimer’s illness, Lewy physique dementia and the “residual results of a traumatic mind harm.”
The protection, in addition to prosecutors, requested that Jeffries be positioned in federal Bureau of Prisons custody so he may be hospitalized and obtain therapy which may permit his legal case to proceed.
“The courtroom finds by a preponderance of the proof that the defendant is presently affected by a psychological illness or defect rendering him mentally incompetent to the extent that he’s unable to know the character and penalties of the proceedings towards him or to help correctly in his protection,” Decide Nusrat Choudhury wrote in his determination.
He directed the Legal professional Normal’s workplace to position Jeffries in a hospital for as much as 4 months.
Jeffries has been free on $10 million bond since pleading not guilty in October to federal prices of intercourse trafficking and interstate prostitution.
Prosecutors say he, his romantic companion and a 3rd man used the promise of modeling jobs to lure males to drug-fueled intercourse events in New York Metropolis, the Hamptons and different areas. The fees introduced in October echo sexual misconduct accusations made in a civil case and the media lately.
Of their letter, Jeffries’ legal professionals mentioned not less than 4 medical professionals concluded that their shopper’s cognitive points are “progressive and incurable” and that he won’t “regain his competency and can’t be restored to competency sooner or later.”
Jeffries left Abercrombie in 2014 after greater than 20 years on the helm. His companion, Matthew Smith, has additionally pleaded not guilty and stays out on bond, as has their co-defendant, James Jacobson.
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