British man’s trial over arrest at Las Vegas Trump rally continued

The federal trial of the British man charged in connection with an alleged threat against Donald Trump at a Las Vegas rally has been continued until Oct. 3.

This comes as the mother of Michael Steven Sandford, 20, is trying to arrange a contact visit with her son at a federal detention center in Pahrump, as part of a push to negotiate a deal to return him to England for mental health treatment.

Lynne Sandford, who lives outside of London, has mounted a media campaign to highlight the mental illness of her son and her concerns about his safety in federal custody in light of those issues.

In court papers this week, Assistant Federal Public Defender Brenda Weksler said the younger Sandford has never been incarcerated and suffers from “serious psychological problems.”

Authorities have acknowledged that Sandford has Asperger’s syndrome, an autism spectrum disorder, and Weksler said he has been on a suicide watch.

Weksler asked U.S. Magistrate Judge Cam Ferenbach for an order directing the Nevada Southern Detention Center to allow Sandford’s mother and British lawyer Saimo Chahal to meet with Sandford in the same room, rather than through a normal video conference.

Ferenbach set an Aug 23 hearing on the matter.

Sandford, who had been living out of his car with an expired visa, was arrested June 18 at TI, the site of the Trump rally, after he tried to grab a police officer’s gun in an attempt to shoot the Republican presidential nominee, according to authorities.

He is alleged to have told authorities that he traveled from California to Las Vegas to kill Trump.

A federal grand jury later charged him with two counts of being an illegal alien in possession of a firearm and one count of impeding and disrupting the orderly conduct of government business and official functions.

At the time of his arrest, Sandford was unemployed and being supported financially by his mother in England, authorities said. He does not have a prior criminal record.

Weksler said in her court papers that she has hired prominent psychiatrist Norton Roitman to help the defense team understand the “underlying psychological issues“ it is facing with Sandford.

Sandford was set to stand trial before U.S. District Judge James Mahan on Aug. 22, but at the request of both sides, Mahan on Thursday agreed to the October continuance.

Contact Jeff German at jgerman@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-8135. Find @JGermanRJ on Twitter.