Amid squabbles with his attorneys, the Sequatchie County, Tenn., man accused of planning an assault on a small Muslim community in New York has to report for mental health testing.
During a brief motion hearing Tuesday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Susan K. Lee agreed with government prosecutors that Robert Doggart needs to undergo a 45-day forensic evaluation for competency and insanity.
Robert Doggart arrives on July 13, 2015, at the back entrance of the Joel Solomon Federal Building in Chattanooga, Tenn. 
Robert Doggart"I don't do this out of spite," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Perry Piper. "We ask that he be committed to the Bureau of Prisons."
Authorities believe Doggart, a Signal Mountain resident of Sequatchie County, Tenn., and a 2014 congressional candidate, spent months gathering weapons and plotting an assault on the Muslim community called Islamberg outside of Hancock, N.Y.
After he was taken into custody in April 2015, Doggart, 64, pleaded not guilty that summer to one charge of solicitation to commit a civil rights violation. He has been on house arrest since.
Doggart's case snagged in December when his attorney, Bryan Hoss, asked to be removed because of a communication breakdown. During Tuesday's hearing, Hoss told Lee that aside from a two-minute phone call Monday, he hadn't spoken to his client since Dec. 29, when he filed the motion.
Doggart said Tuesday he's since been in touch with two defense attorneys who want to represent him, but financial problems have prevented him from retaining them. He said his breakdown with Hoss is rooted in a fundamental disagreement: Doggart believes the case can be won. Hoss, on the other hand, does not.
"I don't know if you'll ever get your finances such that you can ever hire another lawyer," Lee said, and segued into the topic of mental competency testing.
Hoss said Doggart was unopposed to outpatient testing. "But he does oppose a Bureau of Prison forensic evaluation," he said.
He then called one of Doggart's four daughters to testify.
Terri Lee, 38, said her father needs an evaluation because he's shown symptoms of some mental illness for her entire life. She never discussed politics with Doggart because they disagreed, and she defriended him on Facebook after he posted strange images about terrorism, she said. Still, she was wary of her father being taken into federal custody.
"If he doesn't have his freedom, that's my concern," Lee said.
Doggart reminded the judge that he'd never violated the conditions of his probation during his eight months on home detention.
The judge acknowledged Doggart's good behavior but sided with prosecutors. She gave Doggart's daughter the option to transport her father to the federal facility. It was that, she said, or sticking him on a multiple-day bus ride to the prison.
"I understand you don't agree with this," Lee told Doggart, "but it's in your best interest."
Contact Zack Peterson at zpeterson@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6347 with story ideas or tips. On Twitter, follow @zackpeterson918.