Judge Says Katrina Shooting Suspect Unfit For Trial

A federal magistrate has ruled a white Mississippi man is mentally unfit to stand trial on charges he fired a shotgun at three black men who were trying to leave New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

On Wednesday, U.S. Magistrate Louis Moore Jr. ordered Roland Bourgeois Jr. to be taken into federal custody and hospitalized for up to four months before he is re-evaluated.

Bourgeois was freed on bond after he was indicted last year on charges stemming from the 2005 shooting, in which at least one of the men was wounded. Prosecutors called it a racially motivated attack.

A doctor who evaluated Bourgeois last month determined he has psychiatric and medical problems that impair his competency and concluded he shouldn't stand trial until he has a liver transplant.