'Could be demented': Ex-judge says Trump merits 'psychological evaluation' before sentence

A retired judge anecdotally thinks convict Donald Trump could have his head examined before he's sentenced.

When Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan sentences Trump on July 11, he apparently will have the discretion to order a psychological evaluation.

"You have to also really understand this defendant, which means a judge has a right to require person to undergo a psychological evaluation," retired California Superior Court Judge LaDoris Hazzard Cordell said while appearing on CNN's "The Source" with Kaitlan Collins. "And given how unhinged and incoherent Donald Trump has been in speaking publicly that kind of an evaluation might be merited because, for example, he could be demented."

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In the days since he was condemned by the jury, Trump has ramped up his attacks on Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, at one point calling him the "devil."

"There's never been a more conflicted judge," Trump said of Merchan, complaining about the "thousands of dollars" he was told to pay in fines for flouting his gag order 10 times.

He claimed that the gag order was assigned by someone "who couldn't put two sentences together."

"He looks so nice and soft," Trump said of Merchan. "He looks like an angel, but he's actually a devil."

The former president, who was unanimously convicted last week for covering up allegations made by porn star Stormy Daniels of a sexual romp with him in order to corrupt the 2016 election, is expected to go through a presentencing process conducted from the New York City's Probation Department.

And an accommodation was made to allow Trump to have his lead attorney Todd Blanche sit beside him during the interview.

Cordell says it's a luxury to have Blanche be by Trump's side to prevent him from slipping up.

"It is unusual, but not uncommon for a person who has been convicted of a crime to have a lawyer," she said. "And usually it's the person who has enough money to pay for a lawyer to come sit for all the time it takes to do the interview."

But she does expect Trump to go through the presentencing wringer.

"Understand, this is a pre-sentence report," she continued. "Sentencing, when it comes before the judge, basically has three goals: the judge has to decide a punishment, decide on whether or not the sentence can be rehabilitative, and also deter the person from engaging in the conduct again — and deter others from engaging in that kind of conduct."

She added: "So in order to do it, the judge needs to know as much as possible about the defendant, and also about those who are impacted, the victims. So that's why we have this pre-sentence report and the probation officer is tasked with doing this."

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