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Federal trial postponed in Illinois needles-in-meat case

ST. LOUIS (AP) - A jobless 68-year-old man's federal trial on charges he inserted sewing needles as booby traps into packaged supermarket meats in his southwestern Illinois hometown has been postponed indefinitely until his mental competency can be tested.

U.S. District Judge David Herndon canceled the Feb. 9 trial date for Ronald Avers at the request of the Belleville man's public defender, Ethan Skaggs, and ordered that Avers' mental fitness be evaluated.

Skaggs wrote in court filings that he believes Avers has a mental disease or defect, fails to grasp the case's nature and potential consequences and is unable to properly assist in his defense. During recent jail visits, Avers spoke of events that never happened, Skaggs said, and one of Avers' relatives has reported observing irrational, erratic behavior.

It was not immediately clear Thursday how soon or where Avers may undergo the psychiatric testing, after which Herndon said a hearing would be scheduled to discuss the findings.

Avers has pleaded not guilty and is jailed without bond on seven felony product-tampering counts.

Prosecutors allege Avers slipped the needles as "booby traps" into packaged meat items at a Shop 'n Save in Belleville from May through July 2013. The FBI has said Avers told investigators he did it "just for the hell of it."

One customer eventually bit into a needle, and another customer got stuck in the hand by a needle in a steak. No serious injuries were reported from the needles, which the FBI said turned up in everything from ground beef to roasts and steaks.

Prosecutor Suzanne Garrison has said in previous court filings that Avers, who she said was living on Social Security and veterans' benefits, has a criminal history dating to 1968 and has bouts of questionable behavior, once urinating from his second-story apartment on his landlady.

"Among other things, urinating on the landlord bespeaks a problem with respecting authority," Garrison wrote.

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