Ron Jeremy deemed incompetent to face trial for rape due to dementia

Former porn star Ron Jeremy has been declared incompetent to stand in his upcoming rape trial due to his severe dementia.

In 2021, Jeremy was indicted on more than 30 sexual assault counts involving 21 alleged victims over the last two decades.

69-year-old Jeremy pleaded not guilty to all charges, which included 12 counts of forcible rape, seven counts of forcible oral copulation, and six counts of sexual battery by restraint.

Now, according to an email obtained by the L.A. Times, L.A. County Deputy District Attorney Paul Thompson revealed that mental health experts on both sides of the case revealed Jeremy’s dementia after the former film star said he didn’t recognise his defence lawyer when his trial began in 2021.

Thompson wrote: “As a result of the agreement of the experts, the defendant will be declared incompetent to stand trial … his prognosis for improvement is not good.

“If he does not improve, we will not be able to try him for his crimes. Because criminal proceedings are suspended as long as he is incompetent, we also cannot get a guilty plea from him or discuss other measures to get justice for the victims in this case.”

Jeremy will now appear in court on January 17 and is now expected that he will be declared incompetent and then be transferred to a state-run hospital.

The actor, who is nicknamed “The Hedgehog” is one of the most prolific in the porn industry and has appeared in over 2,000 films, has come up against similar charges in the past.

A case against him was declined by the District Attorney’s Office in 2020 ‘due to insufficient evidence stemming from an incident in 2016’.

This most recent indictment covers allegations dating from 1996 to 2020 with victims aged 15 to 51. The counts are believed to be identical to charges filed against Jeremy last year, which he also denied.

Jeremy has been held in jail on $6.6million bail since his arrest in June 2020. If convicted of all charges, he could face a sentence of more than 330 years to life in state prison.

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