Jennifer Aniston stalker declared unfit to stand trial

LOS ANGELES (CN) — A superior court judge declared Thursday that a man accused of crashing a car into the front gate of actress Jennifer Aniston is mentally incompetent to stand trial.

Last week, a court-appointed psychiatrist determined that Jimmy Wayne Carwyle, a 48-year-old Mississippi native, was unfit for trial. Carwyle, through his public defender, asked for a second opinion, implying that he preferred to stand trial. On Thursday, defense attorney Robert Krauss told the court that the second doctor had agreed with the first.

“Although this was not the outcome my client would have preferred, we’ll submit on the report,” Krauss told the judge, meaning that he accepted the determinations of the doctor. The prosecutor agreed.

“The court finds the defendant is not presently competent to stand trial,” said Judge Maria Cavalluzzi. “Criminal proceedings will remain suspended.”

Carwyle has been charged with one count of felony stalking and one count of felony vandalism. Prosecutors say Carwyle routinely harassed the star of the 1990s sitcom “Friends” over the course of two years, sending her emails, voicemails and messages over social media.

Carwyle is also accused of crashing his gray Chrysler PT Cruiser through the front gate of Aniston’s sprawling $21 million Bel Air mansion shortly after noon on May 5, “causing substantial damage,” according to a district attorney press release. No one was injured in the incident. Carwyle was detained by Aniston’s private security guards until police arrived.

Carwyle pleaded not guilty at a hearing earlier this month, where he was ordered to stay 100 yards from Aniston and avoid any contact with her while awaiting trial. He is being held in lieu of $150,000 bail. If convicted on both charges, he faces up to three years in state prison.

In a video posted to Facebook, a longtime friend of Carwyle from Mississippi said that sometime after the Covid-19 pandemic, Carwyle started saying that God wanted him to marry Aniston. Another friend told NBC that Carwyle left Mississippi last September and had been living out of his car in a Walmart parking lot in Burbank.

On his own Facebook page, Carwyle has posted numerous adoring, if awkwardly worded, odes to Aniston. In October, he wrote: “If someone out there can reach Jennifer Joanna Aniston Carwyle, let her know about the corruption going on trying to keep Me from her, you will be Blessed!”

During the first two hearings, Carwyle appeared shirtless, wearing an anti-suicide smock. But on Thursday, his previously long hair and beard were freshly cut short, and he wore a yellow shirt standard for inmates.

Carwyle’s next hearing is set for June 26, where the court will determine what program or facility he will be placed in. For example, he could be entered into a mental health diversion program, or he could be placed in a state hospital. In the meantime, he will continue to be housed at Twin Towers Correctional Facility in downtown LA. The judge also ordered that he be given “psychotropic medication.”

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