Man prosecuted for death threat against Kansas Rep. LaTurner

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A northeastern Kansas man is facing a felony charge of threating to kill one of the state's congressmen, but his trial has been postponed indefinitely so that a federal judge can decide whether he is too mentally ill to help his lawyers or follow what's going on in court.

Federal prosecutors contend in court documents that Chase Neill, 31, from Lawrence, developed a fixation on Republican Rep. Jake LaTurner, who represents an eastern Kansas district. Neill is accused of threatening to kill LaTurner in a June 5 voicemail message left at LaTurner's office and continuing to make threatening calls the following day.

A magistrate said later that month in ordering Neill to remain in custody that he had threatened other members of Congress. The others have not been named, and Neill is charged only with threatening LaTurner.

A hearing is scheduled in the case for Nov. 8, Election Day. Neill's trial initially was set to start in September, but U.S. District Judge Holly Teeter granted a request from both sides to have Neill's mental health examined.

“There is reasonable cause to believe that Mr. Neill has a mental disease and that the mental disease renders him unable to assist properly in his defense,” Teeter wrote in her two-page order.

LaTurner was a Kansas state senator and state treasurer before winning his U.S. House seat in 2020.

Threats to lawmakers are at an all-time high almost two years after the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol in Washington. In San Francisco early Friday, an intruder attacked and severely beat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband with a hammer in their home while searching for the Democratic leader and shouting: “Where is Nancy, where is Nancy?”

In the Kansas case, neither the U.S. attorney's office for the state...