The legal proceedings involving the woman accused of shooting at Rihanna’s Beverly Hills home took an unexpected turn on Tuesday. A judge decided that the suspect, Ivanna Ortiz, should be evaluated in mental health court before her criminal trial advances.
This decision was influenced by a private meeting between Ortiz’s lawyer and the court, during which the attorney expressed concerns about her mental competence. Judge Shannon K. Cooley, upon reviewing additional information, concluded that the case warranted a shift to mental health court.
This development followed a previous court session in Los Angeles last week, where Ortiz had been declared competent to stand trial on attempted murder charges, despite the unusual proceedings during her appearance.
Ortiz’s lawyer had previously requested an additional mental health evaluation before the judge’s decision last week to continue with the criminal trial. Initially, Judge Cooley found no substantial evidence of incompetence, but she reconsidered her stance after further deliberation on Tuesday.
Ortiz’s lawyer had requested last week that she undergo an additional mental-health check before a judge made the ruling that the criminal trial could proceed.
Cooley ultimately ruled there was “not substantial evidence of incompetency” before changing her mind on Tuesday.
She’s due in mental health court in June 2.
Ortiz is accused of shooting up Rihanna and a neighbors home with high powered AK-47 style type rifle on March 8.
Bullets hit the Airstream trailer in the driveway where Rihanna and ASAP Rocky were at the time, according to District Attorney Nathan Hochman.
Rihanna had to shove her husband A$AP Rocky to the floor after shots were fired at her home, court documents reveal.
“They’re shooting at us,” Rihanna allegedly told her husband as he slept inside the trailer when authorities say Ivanna Lisette Ortiz opened fire with an AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle.
Their three children — RZA, Riot and Rocky, ages 4, 3 and 1, respectively — were inside the home with Rihanna’s mother.
The shooting rattled the normally quiet celebrity enclave, an exclusive neighborhood packed with multimillion-dollar estates and tight private security. Rihanna and her family fled the mansion and got on a private jet leaving LA in the aftermath.
