His legal Hail Mary fell short.
A St. Johns County man who made national headlines after randomly blasting a pistol while driving down a busy stretch of freeway has been deemed fit to stand trial, The Citizen has learned.
Samuel O’Neal Gardner’s public defender filed a motion in April asserting that his client was not mentally incapable of facing the charges against him at trial.
Gardner, 62, was arrested in early March for waving a pistol out of the window of his truck while careening down 1-95 South and squeezing off rounds.
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A local realtor captured the chaos on her cell phone and the clip quickly went viral.
“He could have shot me!” she later wrote. “Lord thank you for covering me this morning. Currently sitting on the side of the road crying tears of gratitude.
He was later pursued by deputies after multiple motorists called 911 and was taken into custody after flipping his truck on the side of the freeway/
Gardner is being charged with Aggravated Fleeing, 3 counts of Aggravated Assault on a Law Enforcement Officer, Reckless Driving, and Improper Exhibition of a Firearm.
He later told his attorney that he planned to represent himself in court because he is the son of God.
“Defendant claims to be Samuel from the Bible, and rants about how it is judgement day,” the filing states. “Says he is going to talk for himself in court by the words of God, and all the charges will be dropped because he is the son of God. He said he wanted everything done with his case on the day he was in court.”
The court later assigned a psychologist to evaluate Gardner and a report was issued to Judge R. Lee Smith.
The jurist handed down his decision after a review of the case.
“The defendant is competent to proceed,” Smith concluded.
Gardner will now face the full weight of the charges against him.
