Overview
- Federal Medical Center Butner’s acting warden, Blake Lott, filed a Certificate of Restoration stating Michael Jeffries can understand the proceedings and assist in his defense after months of treatment and a Nov. 21 discharge.
- U.S. District Judge Nusrat J. Choudhury said the competency hearing will be public and indicated it is likely to occur in March with expert testimony from both sides.
- The judge set Oct. 26, 2026, as a tentative start for a multiweek joint trial for all three defendants, contingent on a finding that Jeffries is competent.
- Defense counsel disputes the Bureau of Prisons’ finding and plans to call at least three medical experts, while prosecutors expect to call two clinicians from Butner.
- Jeffries and co-defendants Matthew C. Smith and James Jacobson have pleaded not guilty to one sex trafficking charge and 15 counts of interstate prostitution tied to alleged “sex events” in the U.S. and abroad, after Jeffries was ruled unfit in May due to dementia diagnoses.