A federal judge on Wednesday underlined her previous order for Adel Daoud to receive mental treatment before he’s to stand trial for an alleged terrorist bombing plot.
But there’s a hold up: no bed space available at the federal treatment facility, a prosecutor told U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman.
Daoud, 22, of west suburban Hillside, looked on in an orange jump suit as Coleman ordered the matter to be sorted out before reconvening in her courtroom Tuesday morning.
“I think this matter has the potential to be resolved. The sooner we can get him treatment, the sooner we can get on with trial,” Coleman said, referencing the “urgency of the situation.”
Daoud is set to go on trial in February for allegedly triggering the detonator of a fake car bomb given to him by an undercover federal agent in September 2012. The feds say Daoud parked the inert explosive near a downtown Chicago bar as he sought to attack in his mind “the most evil place.”
In court three weeks ago, Coleman said Daoud was mentally unfit for trial. But she did not cancel his upcoming trial. She instead ordered him to receive three months of treatment before the trial begins.
If, after treatment, he’s still incompetent to stand trial, Daoud could remain in federal custody indefinitely.
Coleman said Daoud’s “rational understanding of the proceedings is significantly undermined by his pervasive belief that the court and the prosecution are members of the Illuminati and that his attorneys are Freemasons.”
Daoud also “believes the justice system is controlled by the Illuminati, a secret ruling class, who he repeatedly describes as reptiles in disguise,” she said.
Daoud has spent most of his adult life behind bars — largely in solitary confinement — and Coleman has blamed his mental issues, in part, on his lengthy incarceration.
While in jail, Daoud allegedly tried to plot the murder of the undercover agent. And he allegedly assaulted a fellow inmate last year over a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad.
His case received national attention in 2014 when Coleman found that Daoud’s attorney should be allowed to see the classified surveillance evidence gathered against him during a months-long investigation. The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals eventually overruled her.
Daoud’s attorney, Thomas Durkin, has said that Daoud, who remains in custody at the Metropolitan Correctional Center downtown, could wind up in psychiatric facilities for the rest of his life.
“I think we need to come to grips as a country with this whole concept of the war on terror and what we do with our own citizens who become influenced by radical ideas,” Durkin said last month. “These are American citizens. This isn’t somebody coming, you know, from Iraq or Syria that Donald Trump likes to yell about, or anybody else. This is an American youth.”
