WASHINGTON (AP) — Psychiatrists say Omar Gonzalez, who is accused of climbing the White House fence and running inside the executive mansion before being apprehended, is competent to stand trial.
U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer disclosed the conclusions of a psychiatric report Thursday at a hearing in which Gonzalez, an Army veteran from Copperas Cove, Texas, pleaded not guilty to the latest set of charges against him.
He is accused of unlawfully entering a restricted building while carrying a deadly weapon, which is a federal charge, and two violations of District of Columbia law – carrying a dangerous weapon outside a home or business and unlawful possession of ammunition.
A Secret Service review has detailed a string of failures on Sept. 19 that allowed an intruder to make it all the way into the East Room carrying a knife.
Separately, Dominic Adesanya of Bel Air, Maryland, has been charged with two federal offenses after Secret Service agents and their dogs caught him on the White House lawn in October. He was the second person to climb over the White House fence in the span of about a month, leading to questions about security at the executive mansion and the competence of the Secret Service.
Acting Secret Service director Joseph Clancey said at a congressional hearing that he was troubled by the findings of an internal review that revealed a range of shortcomings that he said allowed Gonzalez to enter the White House practically unimpeded.
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