Mom asks court to let her visit son accused of Trump threat

By Ken Ritter, Associated Press

Published Friday, Aug. 12, 2016 | 11:16 a.m.

Updated Friday, Aug. 12, 2016 | 2:04 p.m.

A British mother is asking a U.S. judge to let her personally visit her son, who is jailed in Nevada after what authorities say was an attempt to shoot Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump at a Las Vegas campaign rally.

Attorneys representing Michael Steven Sandford, 20, said he has "serious psychological problems" and has been on suicide watch in federal custody at a facility about 50 miles west of Las Vegas.

Sandford's family and lawyers say he has Asperger's syndrome, obsessive compulsive disorder, depression and other mental-health issues. A defense attorney representing him at a bail hearing in June told a federal magistrate judge that Sandford previously attempted suicide, was treated for anorexia, and once ran away from a hospital in England — but that he appeared competent for trial.

Sandford told a judge that he understood the charges against him. He has pleaded not guilty to disrupting an official function and weapon charges that could get him up to 30 years in federal prison.

His current attorneys, deputy federal public defenders Rene Valladares and Brenda Weksler, said in documents filed Wednesday that Sandford is "in a very vulnerable mental state," and that a psychiatrist in Las Vegas determined he "would greatly benefit from the ability to meet with his mother in person."

They don't say what the two would talk about.

U.S. District Judge James Mahan in Las Vegas postponed Sandford's trial to Oct. 3. It had been set to begin Aug. 22.

Instead, the judge scheduled an Aug. 23 hearing on Lynne Sandford's request.

Attorney Saimo Chahal in London has said she hopes to reach a plea bargain that would send Michael Sandford back to Britain rather than stand trial in the U.S.

U.S. Attorney Daniel Bogden said Friday prosecutors had no position on Lynne Sandford's request.

Michael Sandford was arrested June 18 after authorities say he grabbed for a Las Vegas police officer's gun.

Trump, on stage, thanked uniformed officers walking Sandford in custody out of the 1,500-seat theater at the Treasure Island hotel-casino.

Federal agents say Sandford told them he planned to kill Trump, and that he drove from San Bernardino, California, to Las Vegas and practiced shooting at a gun range the day before Trump's appearance.

Officials say Sandford was in the U.S. about nine months more than he was allowed upon entry under a visa-waiver program.

Lynne Sandford has launched a crowdfunding appeal to pay for her son's legal fees. She told reporters in Britain that her son didn't fully appreciate the gravity of what he had done.