JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A federal judge on Monday ruled that an Orange Park man accused of sending bomb-making plans to an FBI informant for an alleged attack on the anniversary of 9/11 is not mentally competent for trial.
Joshua Goldberg, 20, is charged with distributing information relating to explosives and weapons of mass destruction.
Psychologist Lisa Feldman, who examined Goldberg more than five times over 30 days, testified from Miami via video link. She diagnosed him with unspecified schizophrenia spectrum. She said he refused to shower and keep up with his hygiene and picked at lesions on his skin until they bled. She said Goldberg was very paranoid, suspicious and believed that people in the facility were "out to get him."
There was no objection from prosecutors to the competency evaluation.
Judge Jim Klindt said he wasn't overwhelmed by anything the doctor said about Goldberg's mental state, but agreed to review of his mental competency in four months. During that time, Goldberg will remain on suicide watch.
Goldberg did not speak during the hearing, but he told the psychologist that he thinks his lawyer, Paul Shorstein, believes he is a terrorist.
"That's not true, of course," Shorstein said. "I don't know what was discussed between him and the evaluator.".
Shorstein said that if and when Goldberg does go to trial, he'll have a strong case.
"Certainly our position is he had no intent to cause any sort of terrorist events, so there's going to be a different explanation," Shorstein said.
According to the U.S. attorney, Goldberg instructed a confidential source how to make a bomb similar to two used in the Boston Marathon bombings two years ago that killed that killed three people and injured an estimated 264 others.
In online conversations with the undercover informant, Goldberg is accused of expressing hope that "there will be some jihad on the anniversary of 9/11."
The FBI says Goldberg called for an attack in a contest for drawings of the Prophet Muhammad in Garland, Texas, and boasted about helping plan attacks on synagogues in Australia. Goldberg was arrested in September.
Goldberg's parents were at Monday's hearing, but they declined comment afterward.