Overview
- Chief Magistrate Judge Stephanie Bowman ruled that William D. DeFoor, 26, will remain in the Hamilton County jail and receive psychiatric care pending the federal case.
- DeFoor faces charges of damaging government property, committing violence against property in a restricted area, and assaulting or impeding federal officers.
- Secret Service officers say that shortly after midnight on Jan. 5 a man with a hammer breached the Cincinnati property, broke windows, damaged a security system, and tried to smash an unmarked agency vehicle; the Vances were away.
- Prosecutors argued DeFoor targeted the vice president, citing a long late‑night walk from Hyde Park, the absence of other damaged homes along the route, and journal writings read in court.
- Defense attorney Paul Laufman described the case as rooted in severe mental illness and asked for release to a psychiatric hospital with monitoring; a federal preliminary hearing is set for Jan. 20.