MEDFORD LAKES — The ex-South Jersey resident accused of posting an online death threat against former President Barack Obama is not competent to stand trial — a fact his family has argued all along given the man’s decade-long mental health struggle.
William Peterman, 33, formerly of Medford Lakes. (Photo provided)
According to a Feb. 6 order in U.S. District Court, in Pennsylvania, 33-year-old William Peterman’s evaluation required by Magistrate Judge Carol Sandra Moore Wells found that he “at the current time he is not competent to stand trial.”
“He requires further assessment, observation and treatment as necessary in an inpatient facility,” Pogos H. Voskanian, M.D., wrote following a Jan. 30 assessment of the South Carolina resident who most recently worked as an accountant.
A U.S. District Court spokesman did not respond to a message seeking comment.
Peterman, a former Medford Lakes resident, had been charged with threatening to kill the president, the U.S. Secret Service announced last month. On Dec. 18, 2016, Peterman allegedly wrote on Facebook, “Barack Hussein Obama, II gave to me by speech via television permission to kill him; I accept such permission.”
Based on Voskanian’s report, the court found that Peterman “is presently suffering from a mental disease or defect rendering him mentally incompetent” and that he must be admitted to a psychiatric facility for further examination until he attains the “capacity to permit the proceedings to go forward.”
In a recent interview with NJ Advance Media, sister Tracy Lube explained the years-long struggle she and family have had with Peterman as forced medication and stints in mental facilities across New Jersey failed to address the man’s diagnosis of asognasia paranoid schizophrenia, which means he lacks insight and isn’t aware of his illness.
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Lube contends that the family has “hit road blocks at every intersection” trying to get help from police, doctors and the courts as Peterman was repeatedly released after evaluations or short stays in facilities.
“He has never harmed anyone before, but that’s not to say it wouldn’t happen,” Lube said, adding that her brother was interrogated by the Secret Service not long before his arrest, but was released.
Citing the Fort Lauderdale airport shooting, Sandy Hook school massacre and wounding of then-U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords, Lube said the gunmen involved in these incidents and others were mentally ill or received treatment that never resolved their issues.
“He did well with the programs and stayed on his [medication] for quite awhile then there were some hiccups,” Lube said of her brother, who has dealt with mental health struggles since college.
Asked about Peterman’s 2015 stay at the state-run Ancora Psychiatric Hospital, Nicole Brossoie, a state Department of Human Services spokesman, said HIPAA and confidentiality laws “prohibit the department from identifying or confirming any consumers or clients”
In response to an inquiry about how patients come and go from such facilities, Brossoie said that people who end up in New Jersey’s psychiatric hospitals are geneally “admitted by court order and released by court order.”
While Lube doesn’t condone her brother’s actions, the online threats against the president came at the tail end of Peterman’s most recent episode and worsening schizophrenia.
“Ultimately, my family and I would like to see the laws changed and mental health system assessed and addressed properly. This is a medical condition just in the brain and needs to be addressed before more violent incidents happen,” she said.
“Constant up and down battles,” Lube lamented when asked what the past 10 years have been like. “It’s worse today.”
Greg Adomaitis may be reached at gadomaitis@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @GregAdomaitis. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
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