Woman who drove past Secret Service barricades at Mar-a-Lago found not guilty by reason of insanity
WEST PALM BEACH — A Connecticut woman charged with driving a rented SUV through barriers at Mar-a-Lago in January 2020, prompting the Secret Service and Palm Beach County sheriff's officers to fire at her vehicle, was temporarily insane at the time of the incident, a judge ruled Tuesday.
Circuit Judge Scott Suskauer accepted Hannah Roemhild's not-guilty plea at a hearing Tuesday morning.
Lawyers for Roemhild, now 32, have said the opera singer has long dealt with mental-health issues and had not taken her medication at the time of the incident. She appeared at the hearing via Zoom from a residence in Connecticut where she has been living under federal supervised release since last year.
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"(She) is relieved that these matters have been resolved and that she can go on living a normal, productive, healthy life," said David Roth, her attorney.
Roemhild was found not guilty of two counts of assaulting a law-enforcement officer, fleeing police and resisting arrest, according to court records.
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She also was charged in federal court with assaulting a federal officer with a deadly weapon outside former President Donald Trump's Palm Beach mansion, which some called the "winter White House" while he was in office.
The "deadly weapon" was the Jeep SUV that Roemhild had rented during a visit to Palm Beach County.
An off-duty Florida Highway Patrol officer spotted Roemhild dancing on top of the SUV outside The Breakers hotel on Jan. 31, 2020, sparking a chase that wound 2½ miles to two security checkpoints near Mar-a-Lago.
Roemhild probably had no idea where she was heading, authorities said. Trump was not at the mansion at the time.
According to an arrest report, Roemhild drove around barricades on the north end of the property near Ocean Drive and South County Road, ignoring orders from PBSO deputies to stop.
With a Florida Highway Patrol officer pursuing, Roemhild continued south on Ocean Drive passing multiple barricaded areas and a Secret Service checkpoint before stopping in front of an unmarked PBSO vehicle.
As she tried to maneuver around the car, a Secret Service agent and two PBSO deputies blocked the road ahead. Roemhild accelerated and all three fired at the car. Roemhild kept driving after the Jeep was hit multiple times, according to the arrest report.
No one was injured.
Roemhild then crossed the Southern Boulevard bridge just west of Trump's mansion and picked up her mother at Palm Beach International Airport. She was tracked to a nearby hotel where she was arrested that afternoon, deputies said.
In September, Roemhild's federal charges were dropped after the court found her not guilty by reason of insanity. She is court-ordered to meet with a therapist regularly and must either stay on her medications or face psychiatric commitment.
galbert@pbpost.com
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This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Opera singer ruled insane when she crashed Mar-a-Lago barricades
