LOS ANGELES, Jan. 18 (AP) — A Los Angeles judge declared Tuesday that porn actor Ron Jeremy is mentally incompetent to stand trial on dozens of rape and sexual assault charges.
High Court judge Ronald Harris told a hearing that Jeremy was in a state of “incurable neurocognitive decline” after reviewing reports from prosecutors and Jeremy’s defence, making it unlikely he would recover from it.
Prosecutors have called for him to be reevaluated periodically.
A hearing will be held next month on the placement of 69-year-old Jeremy, whose legal name is Ronald Hyatt, at a state hospital.
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Jeremy pleaded not guilty after a grand jury indicted him on 34 counts of sexual assault, including 12 counts of rape.
“When he was arrested two years ago, I said he would be acquitted,” Jeremy’s attorney, Stuart Goldfarb, said in an email. “Two years have passed, and with the additional discoveries I have received, I believe he will be found innocent. Unfortunately, due to his mental condition, he will not stand trial and have the opportunity to clear his name.”
Jeremy, who has been in prison since his arrest in 2020, did not attend the hearing.
An email to the district attorney’s office seeking comment on Tuesday was not immediately returned.
Nicknamed “The Hedgehog,” Jeremy has been one of the porn industry’s most famous and prolific actors for decades, and has become a recognized pop culture novelty through reality shows, public appearances and music videos.
He has long drawn autograph and selfie-seekers, which is how he first met most of the women and girls aged 15 to 51 he was accused of beating between the 1990s and 2019.
According to transcripts of grand jury testimony of the women and girls obtained by The Associated Press, Jeremy would lure them into a small secluded space, usually the bathroom of a West Hollywood bar and grill he frequented, entrap them and sexually assault them. sexual assault.
The Los Angeles Times first reported that Jeremy would not stand trial.
The charges stemmed from the formation of a district attorney’s task force to investigate sexual misconduct in the entertainment industry after reports about Harvey Weinstein made the #metoo movement an international phenomenon in 2017.
Jeremy was one of the few people charged with involvement in the task force, and Weinstein himself was convicted of rape and sexual assault in December.
Prosecutors are still deciding whether to retry Weinstein on several counts that the jury deadlocked. After the jury failed to reach a verdict last month, they plan to retry actor Danny Masterson on three counts of rape. (Associated Press)
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