Judge remains undecided on treatment plan for man charged with stalking
Jennifer Aniston
[October 04, 2025]
By ITZEL LUNA
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A judge remained undecided Friday on the treatment
and placement plan for a man charged with stalking Jennifer Aniston and
ramming his car into the front gate of her home.
Jimmy Wayne Carwyle, a 48-year-old from Mississippi, has pleaded not
guilty to felony stalking and vandalism. But in May, Judge Maria
Cavalluzzi found him not competent to stand trial after evaluations from
two experts. At Friday’s hearing in a Los Angeles court dedicated to
mental health cases, she heard arguments on Carwyle's treatment and
placement.
Aniston’s lawyer, Blair Berk, spoke on her behalf for the first time,
detailing two years of Carwyle’s harassment and stalking, including
various failed attempts to make physical contact with the actor.
Cavalluzzi said she leaned toward sending Carwyle to a mental health
treatment alternative to imprisonment. She requested another hearing,
scheduled for later this month, to hear from a mental health
professional before making a final decision.
Prosecutors and Aniston’s attorney will have a chance to weigh in,
Cavalluzzi said.
The judge acknowledged Aniston's “very real" fear, but she said she
can't ignore the opinions of mental health professionals who have
evaluated Carwyle and deemed him not a danger to society. The
alternative treatment option offers community-based housing, treatment
and support services as opposed to incarceration.
Harassment started 2 years ago, prosecutors say
Prosecutors alleged Carwyle had been harassing the “Friends” star with a
flood of voicemail, email and social media messages for two years before
driving his Chrysler PT Cruiser through the gate of her home in the
wealthy Bel Air neighborhood of Los Angeles on May 5, “only feet away
from where she was,” Berk said.
Carwyle had a stated and “persistent delusion” to impregnate Aniston
with three children, Berk said, and “there is simply no way to prevent
him from carrying out his delusion if he walks out.”
The prosecution expressed concern that if Carwyle were offered the
treatment in Los Angeles, nothing would stop him “from traveling those
few miles to Ms. Aniston,” Berk said.
Berk and William Donovan, the deputy district attorney, argued Carwyle
was a present danger to Aniston and those around her. Berk said he
attempted to enter her property twice, but was turned away.
Carwyle’s lawyer, Robert Krauss, said his client qualifies for
alternative treatment, arguing that he hasn’t been convicted of violent
crimes. Granting him alternative treatment, “is not like giving him a
break or showing him leniency,” Krauss said. “Its just one thing and one
thing only — and that is absolute, pure faithfulness of the law.”
Krauss also referenced a report from the probation department, which
recommended Carwyle be granted probation and 90 days in jail if
convicted, much less than the over three years maximum sentence for his
two charges. Carwyle has been in jail since May and, if convicted, could
be let out with time served.
[to top of second column]
|
Jimmy Wayne Carwyle appears during an arraignment in Los Angeles,
Thursday, May 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, Pool, File)
 Suspect says he won't walk away
from treatment
Carwyle was present at the hearing and addressed questions from
Cavalluzzi, saying he “wasn’t right in the head,” when asked about
the text messages he sent Aniston. He said he has been taking
medication, which is keeping him focused, and admitted his
wrongdoing.
When Cavalluzzi asked how she can be sure he won’t walk away from
the treatment program — a stated concern from the prosecution —
Carwyle responded, “You have my word.”
Berk said Carwyle “traveled thousands of miles over a year ago
“after sending thousands of messages" that reflected “his delusions
and intentions to not just make contact with Ms. Aniston, but to
commit criminal wrongs against her, sexual violence against her.”
She added that Carwyle stressed in his messaging that he “would be
unabated by doctors or others or FBI intervening.”
Donovan argued that a state hospital is a “much safer, much more
effective place for him to go,” and will offer the treatment Carwyle
needs to address his delusions. The prosecution also argued there’s
no evidence that Carwyle’s delusions toward Aniston have stopped,
even with medication.
Carwyle has been under involuntary medication for the past few
months. Krauss said that Carwyle's actions toward Aniston were “just
the product of psychosis from someone who is unmedicated." The
government must keep its “promise of treatment rather than
punishment and of rehabilitation rather than incarceration,” he
said.
The hearing was postponed several times in recent months as Carwyle
at first objected to the incompetence finding and asked for an
opinion, and both sides sought more time to examine the case.
Carwyle remains jailed, but he is under a judge's order not to
contact or get near Aniston.
Authorities said Aniston was home at the time of the gate crash, but
he did not come into contact with her. A security guard stopped him
in her driveway until police arrived. No one was injured.
Carwyle also faces an aggravating circumstance of the threat of
great bodily harm.
Aniston became one of the biggest stars in television in her 10
years on NBC's “Friends.” She won an Emmy Award for best lead
actress in a comedy for the role, and she has been nominated for
nine more. She currently stars in “The Morning Show” on Apple TV+.
All contents © copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved
 |
