The Seattle law student accused of stalking Taylor Swift has been deemed mentally unfit to stand trial as he sought his client’s release from Rikers Island prison, his lawyer argued Wednesday.
David Crowe, 33, was scheduled to appear in Manhattan criminal court on Wednesday for a hearing related to the serial killer hiding outside Swift’s apartment in New York, but a recent court order He will remain at Rikers as a result of his mental health evaluation, his attorney said.
His attorney, Katherine Legeros Bajuk, said Crowe had been evaluated by at least two psychiatrists and deemed “unfit to proceed with an evaluation as well as a criminal background check.”
But rather than being transferred to a mental health facility, Crowe will remain in jail until at least Friday, when another hearing is scheduled.
The attorney said the Manhattan district attorney’s office had not agreed to the transfer, even though it received a copy of the 11-page report early yesterday.
“In some cases, we have clients who are found ineligible and end up in jail for months and months and months,” Najuk told reporters outside the courtroom after the hearing.
“It’s just disappointing,” she said. “Based on their interviews with him, the physician, clinic director, and psychiatrist determined that he was not suitable to proceed with treatment.”
The evaluation was ordered by a judge at Crowe’s last hearing after he was arrested on Jan. 22 while hiding outside Swift’s Tribeca apartment in violation of a court order. It was her third arrest on the street that week, as she was found staked out at the pop singer’s apartment 30 times since November.
Crowe’s latest arrest came just an hour after he was released from court, where he was ordered by a judge to stay away, when he was caught on camera rummaging through a trash can outside Swift’s apartment. . Swift’s security team alerted local police to her return to the neighborhood.
Crowe is currently being held at Rikers on a $100,000 bond on a contempt charge for willfully violating a court order.
Crowe’s original charges were four counts of stalking, a misdemeanor, and two counts of harassment.
Meanwhile, Taylor won her record-breaking fourth Album of the Year award for her album “Midnight” at the 2024 Grammy Awards ceremony held on Sunday. In his acceptance speech, the megastar announced that he will be releasing a new album, The Tortured Poets Department, on April 19th.
The Post contacted the Manhattan Prosecutor’s Office.
