PORT ANGELES — Instead of entering a plea to multiple assault charges last week, a 22-year-old Port Angeles man was ordered to get a mental health competency evaluation.
Reefer Jay Zentz will be examined to determine if he understands the Clallam County Superior Court proceedings that he sat through Friday and if he can assist in his defense against nine criminal counts, including first-degree rape, Judge Simon Barnhart ruled Friday.
Zentz allegedly attacked a 71-year-old woman and her 71-year-old male caregiver March 8 in the woman’s home.
“Defendant has been previously described by [Western State Hospital] as ‘a young man with a likely trauma history and likely trauma-related deficits,’ ” according to the court order mandating the evaluation.
“In addition, defendant has indicated he is currently experiencing active hallucinations and expresses paranoid beliefs with regard to recent invasive medical procedures performed on him.”
Zentz will be examined by a hospital evaluator in the Clallam County jail, where he was being held Sunday on $250,000 bail.
Barnhart scheduled the next hearing in the case for April 9.
Zentz also is charged with first-degree incest, second-degree assault-strangulation, first-degree assault and first-degree burglary, and assault in violation of a sexual assault protection order, all with special allegations that the victim is a vulnerable adult and that the crimes were committed with a lack of remorse.
The protection order grew from incidents on Jan. 8, 2019, at the woman’s home, where Zentz had been living in the woman’s garage, according to a Port Angeles Police Department case report.
He also is charged with harassment-threats to kill.
Two additional charges include harassment-threats to kill and fourth-degree assault of the woman’s caregiver, which also allegedly occurred March 8.
Zentz’s address is listed in the charging document as transient, Port Angeles.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 55650, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
