Judge orders competency exam for man charged with attack on aide to Sen. Paul
March attack inflicted serious injuries to aide
The man charged with stabbing an aide for Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., will be transferred from District of Columbia Jail to St. Elizabeth’s Hospital for a full competency examination.
D.C. Superior Court Judge Anthony Epstein signed an order Friday saying that Glynn Neal, 42, needs further psychological evaluation to proceed in the case.
St. Elizabeth’s Hospital is Washington’s public psychiatric facility that provides mental health examinations for patients committed to it by the courts. A status hearing is set for Oct. 27 to consider the report from the Department of Mental Health.
“Basically the case is stuck. We can’t go forward until this issue gets resolved,” Epstein said in court.
Neal, who was silent during the brief hearing, is charged with assault with intent to kill stemming from the March 25 attack in which Phillip Todd, the Senate staffer, suffered grave injuries.
Todd and his friend, Christopher Barnard, were walking from Sol Mexican Grill near the 1300 block of H Street Northeast when Neal lunged toward them from behind a wall, jumped on top of Todd and stabbed him.
Todd said in an interview at the hospital that he didn’t know Neal and didn’t know why he was attacked. He sustained several serious injuries to his head and lungs, according to the affidavit explaining what happened, filed by Metropolitan Police Department Detective Andrew Gong.
According to the police affidavit, “‘A voice was telling him that someone was going to get him for all the things he done. So he [Defendant Neal] was waiting right there to get the someone.”
Neal was released from prison the day prior to the attack on Todd, according to the Bureau of Prisons.