Man Declared Unfit in Carson Threat Case
A Milwaukee man charged with threatening to kill late-night talk show host Johnny Carson is mentally unfit to stand trial, a judge ruled.
Pasadena Superior Court Judge Charles Lee on Thursday ordered Ken Orville Gause to return to court May 11 for a commitment hearing.
Gause will be held in a state mental health facility until he can understand the charges against him.
Gause, 37, was charged with five felony counts of making terrorist threats and five counts of sending threatening letters.
Authorities said Gause had threatened to kill the host of “The Tonight Show” unless Carson paid him $5 million, which Gause claimed he was owed.
Security officers were alerted to watch for Gause after he wrote of his intended arrival, and he was arrested last December in the lobby of NBC Studios in Burbank.
At the time of his arrest, Gause allegedly was armed with a sock weighted with sand.
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