Porn actor Ron Jeremy, charged in California with the rape and sexual assault of 21 victims, some of whom were minors, has been ruled mentally unfit to stand trial by a judge.
• Also read: Porn actor Ron Jeremy charged with raping and assaulting 21 victims
The judge’s decision, made on Tuesday, comes a year after he ordered a psychiatric evaluation of the actor, who failed to recognize one of his lawyers during a visit to the prison.
A fallen star of adult cinema, Ron has credited Jeremy with more than 1,700 appearances in X-movies since the late 1970s.
In June 2020, he was charged with raping three women and sexually assaulting a fourth. His arrest and appearance in a Los Angeles court had sparked a fresh wave of complaints against the man in his mid-60s, who has since been jailed.
The oldest facts date back to 1996. Overall, Ron Jeremy is accused of various acts of sexual violence against 21 women between the ages of 15 and 51.
The results of the psychiatric report were leaked to the Los Angeles Times in early January.
Doctors appointed for the prosecution and defense believe he has dementia and his judgment is seriously impaired, according to an email obtained by the American daily.
“If the experts agree, the defendant will be declared ineligible to stand trial,” one of the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office’s prosecutors, Paul Thompson, said in the email. “If his condition doesn’t improve, we can’t bring him to justice for his crimes.”
A spokesman for the Los Angeles Attorney’s Office told AFP on Wednesday that a hearing scheduled for February 7 will decide where the actor should be housed.
He could therefore be placed in a hospital.
The American judiciary can theoretically convict him whenever his condition improves. But dementia is a degenerative disease that usually gets worse over time.
Ron Jeremy has always denied the allegations against him. On Twitter, he declared himself completely “innocent” and pleaded “not guilty” before the judge.
In June 2020, his lawyer Stuart Goldfarb had denied the allegations against his client and assured him that he was “not a rapist”.
“Ron has been the partner of more than 4,000 women over the years and because of who he is (…) women are falling for him,” the board said.