The self-proclaimed prophet who turned himself in at a Salt Lake television station after escaping from the Utah State Hospital last week was arraigned Tuesday in 4th Circuit Court on a Class B misdemeanor charge of escape from custody.
Cody Robert Judy, 27, was free for more than three days after jumping from one of the hospital's third-story windows at about 5 a.m. March 23. He surrendered at KSL-TV Friday, saying he had spent three days in the mountains talking to God.Judy was in the hospital undergoing a mental health evaluation related to charges he threatened Howard W. Hunter, president of the Council of the Twelve of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, with a fake bomb Feb. 7 at a fireside at Brigham Young University's Marriott Center. He is charged with kidnapping, aggravated assault and assault. He was scheduled to appear for a competency hearing in 4th District Court last week, but that hearing was continued to April 8.
Because of the question pending on Judy's competence, Judge Robert S. Sumsion Tuesday entered a not guilty plea for Judy on the escape charge, which carries a possible sentence of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine. Sumsion set a waiver hearing for April 19, when further proceedings will be discussed on the escape charge and the charges relating to the Marriott Center incident. However, if Judy is found not competent to proceed at the April 8 hearing, the waiver hearing will be continued and he will be returned to the state hospital for treatment.
In a telephone interview Feb. 9 from the Utah County Jail, Judy said he planned to be the LDS Church's next prophet and that his mission was to prepare for Jesus Christ to return to Earth. As a prophet, he would come forth with revelations and interpretations of scriptures that only he could understand.
When he turned himself in Friday, Judy said the LDS Church would reinstitute plural marraige and that the "Word of Wisdom" - a health code followed by Mormons that includes abstinence from alcohol, coffee, tea and tobacco - would be changed.
Judy is being held at the Utah County Jail awaiting the April 8 hearing.
Before leaving the courtroom Tuesday, Judy's court-appointed attorney warned him not to talk to the media.