Competency hearing set for former football player

By Matt Pordum (contact)

Monday, Dec. 20, 2004 | 9:29 a.m.

A hearing to determine whether the former NFL player accused of shooting at the home of entertainers Siegfried Fischbacher and Roy Horn is competent to stand trial is expected to be conducted after an arraignment Dec. 28.

Cole Ford, 31, waived his preliminary hearing scheduled Friday before Las Vegas Justice of the Peace James Bixler.

Bixler explained to Ford that "any resolution" regarding his six charges of discharging a firearm from a motor vehicle and two felony counts of assault with a deadly weapon would "happen in District Court."

Ford who had been silent during his previous court appearances asked Bixler if his conversations with psychiatrists "could be dictated." Bixler asked him if Ford meant he wanted a copy or transcript of his questioning by doctors and after Ford confirmed that's what he was referring to Bixler assured him he would receive a copy.

Bixler explained to Ford he would "have to cooperate fully with the doctors" and Ford said he would.

Ford was arrested Nov. 2 at a Las Vegas copy shop in connection with the shotgun blasts fired Sept. 21, allegedly from the white minivan Ford owns.

No one was hurt in the shooting, but windows were shattered and walls of the famed illusionists' home were damaged.

Ford, a former placekicker for the University of Southern California before playing for the Buffalo Bills, Oakland Raiders and Pittsburgh Steelers in the NFL, could face up to 27 years in prison if convicted of all charges.

Ford is to enter his plea before District Judge Jackie Glass on Dec. 28 at which time a hearing to determine his competency is expected to be scheduled. Ford's lawyer has said that Ford may plead insanity.

Deputy District Attorney Marc DiGiacomo said he expects a competency hearing to be scheduled by Glass on Dec. 28.

A civil suit filed by Ford against the Monte Carlo casino on Jan. 28 is one reason why people are questioning his mental state.

In that lawsuit, Ford was seeking $5 million from the Monte Carlo because, he wrote, by allowing people to place bets on the football teams for which he played in the 1990s the casino "acquired leverage from my works."

"I believe gaming is stealing from an athlete's earning potential," the suit states. "The athlete is creating the results and the sports books are claiming them."

District Judge Valerie Adair dismissed the suit on May 13.