Judge Finds Navy Doctor in Shooting Incompetent

A Navy doctor accused of shooting two men last September at the 32nd Street Naval Station has been declared mentally incompetent by a military judge.

Because of the ruling, all legal proceedings against Lt. Cmdr. Ann Dalrymple have been suspended. She has been moved out of the Navy brig and is undergoing further psychiatric examinations, Navy officials said Friday.

The judge, Capt. Richard Reed, said he made his ruling after months of pretrial hearings in which he observed Dalrymple’s behavior and determined that she was incapable of comprehending the case against her.

He said she often engaged in hunger strikes, seemed confused about the legal proceedings, placed her feet on the counsel table in the courtroom, and at least once had to be physically carried from the courtroom.

“I just decided I had seen enough,” he said. “I am convinced that right now she definitely has some problems. And, until I get some evidence that she is competent, we are precluded from going forward with this trial.”

Dalrymple was arrested after an incident in which she barricaded herself in her dormitory room and allegedly shot and wounded a Navy psychiatrist and a San Diego police SWAT officer.

She was reportedly upset over losing her hospital residency and was worried about problems with her administrative job at the station’s medical clinic.