A Fairfax man will be treated at a state mental health hospital now that a Fairfax County judge on Monday found him not guilty by reason of insanity in attacks on two staffers in Rep. Gerry Connolly’s Northern Virginia office.
Experts for the prosecution agreed with Xuan Kha Tran Pham’s defense attorneys that the 50-year-old man suffers from schizophrenia. The Fairfax man was not properly medicated and could not distinguish right from wrong at the time of the crimes.
Pham assaulted another woman in Fairfax County before going to Connolly’s field office looking for him on May 15, 2023.
At the office, Pham beat one staffer in the head with a metal bat and struck an intern in the ribs. It was the intern’s first day. Both women survived, but the one hit in the head continues to suffer chronic migraines, a spokeswoman for Fairfax Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano told The Washington Post.
“It has been over a year since Mr. Pham entered my office with the intent to harm me and my staff. As the healing process continues, I remain grateful for the community’s support and inspired by my staff’s incredible courage and recovery. Mr. Pham’s history of mental illness is well documented and lasts today. I pray he continues to receive the institutional treatment he needs so that he does not harm anyone else or himself,” Connolly said in a statement. Pham will be in the state facility as long as necessary. His next court appearance will be on November 1.
Feature image, courtesy Gerry Connolly/X
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