The hammer-wielding suspect who descended on Vice President JD Vance‘s Ohio home has pleaded guilty to the charges against him after his lawyers cited an extensive history of mental health struggles and a schizophrenia diagnosis.
William D DeFoor, 26, has pleaded guilty to engaging in acts of physical violence against government officials and causing willful injury to property of the United States, the US Attorney’s Office in Ohio announced on Tuesday.
DeFoor, whom the Daily Mail previously revealed as the son of two wealthy doctors and possibly identified as transgender, came into the national spotlight at the start of the year when he stormed onto Vance’s property.
DeFoor was apprehended by Secret Service agents in the early hours of January 5 when he ran along the front fence of Vance’s $1.4 million Cincinnati home. The vice president and his family were in Washington DC at the time of the incident.
He attempted to break the driver’s side window of an unmarked federal law enforcement vehicle, striking it multiple times with a hammer.
DeFoor continued to strike the windows of Vance’s home with his hammer and refused demands from law enforcement to drop his weapon, according to charging documents.
Prosecutors estimated that he damaged about $28,000 worth of US government-owned property.
‘Acts of violence directed against our political leaders, their families, or property, have no place in our society and will not be tolerated. Our elected leaders, at all levels of government, must be permitted to carry out their duties free from threats, vandalism, and other forms of violence,’ US Attorney Dominick S Gerace II said of the guilty plea.
‘Perpetrators like DeFoor, who put that freedom at risk, particularly through violent, destructive actions, will, like here, be vigorously prosecuted.’
DeFoor’s attorneys previously said that his actions had ‘nothing to do with the specifics of the vice president’ and were not politically motivated.
His mother, Catherine DeFoor, said in a media statement in January that mental illness was a ‘terrible thing.’
‘It is a struggle which can take over the life of a beautiful person and the people who love and support them,’ she said.
‘Unfortunately for our child, it has taken over his life in a way that we can never have imagined.’
Defense attorneys cited a history of crimes associated with DeFoor’s mental illness. In 2023, he was charged with trespassing at the University of Cincinnati Health Psychiatric Emergency Services.
The court ruled DeFoor incompetent to stand trial, and the case was dismissed. A year later, he was charged with two counts of vandalism after breaking windows at a local business. A court ordered him to receive treatment.
His mother was later granted legal guardianship over him after he was found incompetent by reason of mental illness.
DeFoor’s lawyers previously claimed that he should be released from custody pending trial due to his mental health struggles.
‘Mr. DeFoor’s alleged offense conduct was using a hammer to damage two windows and a car and refusing to listen to the orders of Secret Service Agents,’ defense attorneys argued in a motion to release DeFoor.
‘Put more succinctly, while in the midst of an ongoing mental health crisis a young person damaged property and did not listen to someone shouting at him.’
‘These circumstances are only noteworthy for one reason; it just so happens that this occurred at the home of the Vice President,’ his legal reps added.
Defense attorneys argued that detention would normally never be considered in a vandalism case, adding that prosecutors acknowledged there was no evidence the attack was political.
‘While in the midst of a mental health crisis, Mr. DeFoor used a hammer to damage a home and a car. This is not the behavior of an inherently violent person, merely a person in crisis,’ defense attorneys argued.
DeFoor’s attorneys detailed his diagnosis of schizophrenia and his past history in and out of medical facilities.
The Daily Mail previously reported that DeFoor attended an elite $27,000-a-year Catholic high school and appeared to have transitioned to female, now going by the name Julia.
A Facebook profile under the name Julia DeFoor was created a month before the incident.
The Cincinnati native grew up in the affluent Hyde Park neighborhood in a $1.3 million home with his surgeon father, William, and pediatrician mother, Catherine, and two younger siblings, Libby and Alex.
William is a pediatric urologist at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. His wife is a general pediatrician at a St Elizabeth Physicians primary care facility in Kentucky.
DeFoor does not appear to have graduated from a traditional four-year university, despite excelling as a high schooler at The Summit Country Day School, a prestigious private school in Cincinnati.
His attorneys noted in a motion that he spent time in a locked-door mental health facility after his 2024 arrest and found a successful treatment regimen.
DeFoor managed his symptoms and started working on his bachelor’s degree until they returned in December 2025.
Judge Douglas R Cole denied DeFoor’s request to await trial at his parents’ home, and he has remained in detention.
The US Attorney’s Office said a sentencing hearing will come at a later date. He faces up to 10 years in prison for the crimes.