Judge Evelyn Freeman today ruled that former Senator Tommy Tuberville was fit to stand trial on charges including sedition, conspiracy, and election interference.
Tuberville’s attorneys had argued that their client did not have the cognitive abilities to tell the difference between right and wrong and that he was just doing what others had told him to do and say.
Arguments between prosecutors and defense attorneys about Tuberville’s mental fitness had frequently been heated. The defense cited three psychologist evaluations of Tuberville that described him as having the mental abilities of a young child. The prosecution countered that those psychologists relied heavily on what Tuberville said and did while he was Alabama’s U.S. Senator, and that Alabama voters had found him fit enough. To that the defense argued that what Alabama voters consider fit shouldn’t be the legal standard.
Judge Freeman in her ruling indicated that, although she agreed with many of the points made by the defense, she still thought that Tuberville was capable of telling the difference between right and wrong and that she thought a jury should be allowed to weigh all the evidence.