According to the LA Times, Ron Jeremy has officially been declared unfit to stand trial. Anyone who spent more than minutes speaking to him knew this would come. My source says that he's suffered from early-onset dementia dating back at least a decade or possibly more. That has advanced to the point where he doesn't know who anyone is anymore, including longtime friends and family members. Nor does he seem to know where he is or what day it is even.
Anyone who has ever known someone who has dementia knows just how rough it is. The person isn't the same as they were before. They don't know anything. They eventually lose the ability to talk, walk, and, yes, eventually, even how to remember to eat or even remember to swallow.
Dementia is a degenerative brain disorder for which there is no cure. It impairs a person's ability to remember, think, or make decisions that interferes with doing everyday activities. A person can live for years in the early stages as just a forgetful kind of person. But when in the full throws of the disease, the person become as helpless as a newborn baby, even in some cases, not able to hold their own head up. They often shit and piss on themselves and are completely unaware of who anyone is or how to even speak.
There is no future for Ron Jeremy. I'm told by those who know him that he's already declined to advanced stages where he's unable to care for himself in any capacity and will have to be placed in a full-time care facility to help him clean up after he urinates on himself and to help feed him because he's unable to do so on his own at this point.
Former adult film star Ron Jeremy is suffering from “severe dementia” and will be declared incompetent to stand trial on multiple charges of rape later this month, according to an L.A. County prosecutor in an email obtained by The Times.
Jeremy — whose legal name is Ronald Hyatt — was first charged in June 2020 with raping four women he met in West Hollywood bars and clubs. The case against Jeremy quickly ballooned as dozens of women came forward claiming the one-time porn king had been abusing women for decades at parties, adult film conventions or on movie sets.
Jeremy, 69, was later indicted on more than 30 counts of sexual assault stemming from allegations made by 20 women, with some of his alleged crimes dating back to the 1990s. But weeks before Jeremy’s trial was slated to begin last year, his defense attorney, Stuart Goldfarb, walked into a Los Angeles courtroom and said his client did not recognize him.
In an e-mail obtained by The Times this week, L.A. County Deputy Dist. Atty. Paul Thompson said mental health experts called on by both prosecutors and Jeremy’s defense team have determined he suffers from severe dementia, and there is no evidence he is faking his symptoms.
“As a result of the agreement of the experts, the defendant will be declared incompetent to stand trial ... his prognosis for improvement is not good,” Thompson wrote. “If he does not improve, we will not be able to try him for his crimes. Because criminal proceedings are suspended as long as he is incompetent, we also cannot get a guilty plea from him or discuss other measures to get justice for the victims in this case.”
Thompson and Goldfarb declined to comment Friday. Jeremy, who has denied all wrongdoing, is scheduled to appear in a Hollywood courtroom on Jan. 17, when he will be formally declared incompetent to aid in his own defense, Thompson said in the e-mail.
While competency to stand trial is fluid — meaning a mentally incompetent defendant can later be found capable of standing trial after receiving medication or therapy over time — dementia is a progressive and degenerative illness from which Jeremy is unlikely to recover.
According to the e-mail, the experts reached their conclusion based on a review of medical documents and interviews with Jeremy, his relatives, and several of the Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies who interacted with him while in custody. Some of Jeremy’s relatives apparently suspected he suffered from dementia before his 2020 arrest, “which was the catalyst that started the process that resulted in his driver’s license being taken away,” Thompson wrote in the e-mail.
Once declared incompetent, Jeremy is likely to be placed in a state-run hospital.
Lianne Young, a former British adult film star who first publicly accused Jeremy of assaulting her in an interview with The Times in 2020, said she was frustrated to learn there were concerns Jeremy had dementia long before prosecutors brought charges against him.
“My first reaction, I was kind of numb,” she said. “They were aware of his condition before getting us all involved. They were well aware he had dementia, so I’m very disappointed that they didn’t solve that bit before letting us go on that emotional journey for two and a half years.”
Greg Risling, a spokesman for the district attorney’s office, said prosecutors were unaware of the severity of Jeremy’s illness at the time charges were brought.
“Although his attorney expressed some concern for his declining faculties, we believed him to be competent at the time of filing based upon interviews we conducted with him, among other reasons,” Risling said. “We had no records at time of filing indicating that he had a dementia diagnosis.”
Young said she was wearing a bikini at an industry party at the former House of Blues on the Sunset Strip in 2000 when Jeremy came up behind her, shoved her against a table and forced himself inside her. The encounter only lasted seconds, according to Young, who said she fought him off quickly. After Young spoke with The Times, she said she was contacted by Sheriff’s Department investigators and later called to testify against Jeremy at a grand jury hearing.
Young said she doesn’t regret coming forward, as she believes the wave of allegations against Jeremy sparked a conversation about sexual abuse in the adult film industry. But she’s also concerned that, without a conviction, Jeremy may be absolved in the eyes of many of his fans.
“It’s going to come down to public opinion now, and public opinion has looked at Ron like a god,” she said. “It could be an indication to other predators or viewers of pornography that they can get away with such crimes.”
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