A Salt Lake man charged with threatening to kill U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch has been judged sane enough to stand trial.
Conrad Lloyd, 41, tends to be narcissistic and histrionic, but he does not suffer from any mental disease, according to a federal psychiatric report. The report, submitted by a team from the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles said Lloyd does suffer from a personality disorder, "but this does not render him incompetent to stand trial," according to a federal magistrate's order.A federal grand jury indicted Lloyd in December for allegedly threatening to kill Hatch. Lloyd apparently made the threat over the telephone to a Hatch aid Nov. 4. Lloyd has plead not guilty to the offense.
Lloyd has been obsessed for some time with his inability to see his son, 13, and his daughter, 8. The two children are in the custody of their mother, who has left the state. Lloyd has repeatedly sought help from media and political officials in finding his children.
He has repeatedly lobbied the Legislature for a law that gives all fathers visitation of their children. Lloyd's former wife obtained a restraining order prohibiting him from seeing the children after he tracked them to Oklahoma and showed up at their school several years ago.
Lloyd saw the psychiatric report last week and did not object to it. The U.S. attorney's office did not object to it either. Hence, U.S. Magistrate Ronald Boyce ordered Lloyd's trial to go forward.
If he is convicted, Lloyd faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.