Erstwhile silver screen superstar Farrah Fawcett’s mentally-ill son, Redmond O’Neal, is facing almost 20 years in prison due to charges that stem from a violent rampage he committed in May of last year.
The case has experienced little to no progress since 2018 due to O’Neal’s lawyers questioning the validity of prosecuting him in a regular court, citing his mental health.
The 32-year-old suffers from schizophrenia, a psychological condition which profoundly affects cognition and stability, even causing disconcerting hallucinations in a select few cases.
Additionally, he also suffers from bipolar and anti-social personality disorders.
In May 2018, O’Neal stabbed five men in the Los Angeles area, even causing significant brain damage to one after striking him on the skull with a broken glass bottle.
Now, criminal proceedings seemed to have stalled yet again given the fact that O’Neal’s defence has put forth a statement from his practising psychologist testifying that he ‘hears voices in his head.’
This, too, is nothing new.
Fawcett’s son has been placed before the court numerous times in his life and consulted doctors during his 2001 stint in prison, whereby one of them concluded that O’Neal was being compelled to kill himself by voices seemingly inside his head, forcing prison officials to incite inmate suicide-prevention measures.
Nancy Kaser-Boyd, O’Neal’s new consulting psychologist, has further claimed that the aforementioned and previous instances of his mental incompetence are a by-product of him piling substance abuse on top of his limited cognitive abilities, which profoundly mitigated his intelligence during formative years, particularly adolescence.
Kaser-Boyd claims that more than just his afflicting conditions, O’Neal simply lacks the ability to grasp court procedures, thereby disqualifying him from standing trial in a civilian court.
The final sentence will be confirmed before the end of July.