Woman Accused of Attempting to Murder Rihanna to Face Mental Health Competency Test
A judge ordered a halt to the prosecution of Ivanna Ortiz on Tuesday (May 19) to determine if she can understand the court proceedings against her.
Black News 
The judge overseeing the case of attempted murder against Rihanna has halted the proceedings in order to allow the accused, Ivanna Ortiz, 35, to undergo a mental health evaluation. According to the Associated Press, on Tuesday (May 19) Judge Shannon K. Cooley ordered a pause in the prosecution of Ortiz after Deputy Public Defender Derek Dillman said he has doubts about his client’s mental competence.
Ortiz is accused of firing 20 shots from an AR-15-like rifle at Rihanna’s Los Angeles home on March 8 while the singer, her partner, rapper A$AP Rocky, and their three children were in the residence; Ortiz has pleaded not guilty to the charges, which include 10 counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm, one for each of the people on the two properties, as well as three charges of shooting at an occupied vehicle or dwelling.
Cooley ordered the psychiatric evaluations and temporarily transferred the case to a Hollywood mental health court that specializes in determining whether defendants can understand the proceedings against them and are capable of going through a trial. “It is the ethical obligation of counsel and the court to ensure that Ms. Ortiz’s rights are protected, including being able to assist counsel in conducting a defense in a rational manner,” Dillman told the AP; prosecutors did not comment on the decision.
If Ortiz is found incompetent, she could be held indefinitely in a state hospital until she is able to face the charges in court. The decision came a week after Cooley declined to pause the proceedings for a mental health evaluation and Ortiz objected, with the judge saying she thought the case should move on to trial. At that hearing, Cooley ordered that Ortiz should continue to be held on $2 million bail.
According to police, Ortiz pulled up to the home on March 8 in a rented Tesla and fired the rounds at the home. While no one was injured in the incident, according to police interviews with witnesses, some of the shots hit an Airstream trailer that Rihanna and Rocky were in, with investigators finding bullet holes in the trailer and on the exterior wall of the home’s second-floor nursery, where the three children were with their nanny.
Investigators said that after her arrest later that day, Ortiz, a licensed speech pathologist who has no prior police record, told them “I wasn’t attempting murder.” According to a copy of the police report obtained by Rolling Stone, Rihanna and Rocky were in the Airstream when the singer heard “approximately ten loud sounds like something banging on metal.” When she opened the curtains, she “observed bullet holes in the windshield directly in front of where she had been standing.
She then grabbed Rocky out of bed, “told him they were being shot at, and pushed both of them to the ground.” Police also said Rihanna allegedly stated, “they shooting at us,” as she forced Rocky to the ground before the couple ran into the garage and rushed into the home to make sure their children and staff were safe.
After the shooting, Ortiz fled and a police helicopter quickly found her car and arrested her. Investigators found six bullet holes in the vehicle gate of the Beverly Hills home, as well as a seventh on a pedestrian gate and three holes in a wooden fence covered by tall bushes. To date, Rihanna has not commented publicly on the incident.
