The Rihanna attempted murder case took a sharp turn this week. A Los Angeles judge paused all proceedings against Ivanna Lisette Ortiz, the 35-year-old Florida woman accused of firing an AR-15-style rifle at the singer’s home while she, A$AP Rocky, and their three children were inside. The reason: doubts about whether Ortiz is mentally fit to stand trial.
Judge Shannon K. Cooley ordered psychiatric evaluations and transferred the case to a Hollywood mental health evaluation court that specializes in competency determinations. The decision came after Ortiz’s own attorney, Deputy Public Defender Derek Dillman, expressed concerns about his client’s mental state. Just one week earlier, Cooley had declined to pause the case, and Ortiz herself objected, saying she wanted to move toward trial.
If Ortiz is found incompetent, she could be held indefinitely in a state hospital until she is able to understand the proceedings and assist in her own defense. If she is found competent, the criminal case resumes. The next hearing is scheduled for June 2.
Ortiz has pleaded not guilty to attempted murder and more than a dozen other felony counts. She remains jailed on nearly $2 million bail. Prosecutors say she fired at least 20 rounds at the Beverly Crest property on March 8, striking an Airstream trailer where the couple was inside and the exterior wall of a second-floor nursery where the children were with their nanny. No one was injured.
After her arrest that day, Ortiz reportedly told detectives: “I would like to say that I wasn’t attempting murder.”
Public records show Ortiz worked as a licensed speech pathologist for more than a decade. She has no prior criminal record. Authorities have not disclosed a motive or described any connection between her and Rihanna.
The case now sits in limbo, waiting on doctors and a mental health court that recently found a man accused of stalking Jennifer Aniston incompetent to stand trial. For Rihanna and her family, the pause offers no closure, only more uncertainty in a nightmare that began with gunfire in their own driveway.
