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player ready...A pre-sentencing status hearing on the mental fitness of a man convicted of making a terrorist threat has been scheduled Jan. 6, after the offender’s outbursts in Lake County Circuit Court Thursday halted the process.
Judge Mark Levitt scheduled the new date Friday after telling Daniel Pederson Thursday that his behavior in court “made it impossible” to continue the hearing at that time.
Pederson, who has been held at a secure mental health facility in Elgin since summer and was transported to Lake County for the fitness hearing, will remain in Lake County Jail until the hearing Jan. 6, Levitt ruled.
Pederson, of Calabasas, Cal., was convicted in May of making a terrorism threat, a felony that carries a potential sentence of 6 to 30 years in prison. He threatened in 2014 to “light up” the county courthouse and the Gurnee Police station, according to authorities.
He was sent to the Elgin Mental Health Center for evaluation and treatment in August when Levitt questioned his fitness for the sentencing hearing, which is still pending.
As a psychiatrist took the stand and was preparing to testify under questioning of prosecutors Thursday, Pederson objected, and after being told not to speak by Levitt, continued with an escalating series of loud comments, some including obscenities.
After Levitt took a five-minute recess and asked Pederson to compose himself, Pederson continued shouting comments about what he said is a corrupt system in Lake County and said “you guys (messed) with the wrong person.”
Levitt ended the hearing after the brief recess and asked that Pederson be remanded to jail, where he will now remain without bond until the fitness hearing resumes in January.
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