A Mobile County Circuit Court case took an unusual turn this month when a man facing a terrorist threat charge asked the court to pay thousands of dollars for a specialized therapy program, arguing the sessions would help prove his innocence.
Chase Anderson Romagnano, 29, filed a five-page motion asking the court to cover $25,000 in costs for the therapy, which he said would include work with a licensed sexual surrogate. In the filing, Romagnano acknowledged the request was unusual, writing that he was “beyond embarrassed” it had come to this point.
According to the motion, Romagnano believes that participating in the sessions and sharing details of them with the court would demonstrate that prosecutors do not have a valid case against him and that the proceedings have wasted the court’s time. He did not lay out in detail how the therapy sessions would establish his innocence, but described them in the filing as central to refuting the state’s allegations.
Romagnano was indicted in 2013 in Mobile County Circuit Court on a single count connected to threatening phone calls and emails prosecutors say were directed at staff members of Spring Hill College in Mobile. The case has remained active in the local court system since that time.
Circuit Court Judge Robert Smith is overseeing the case and had not ruled on the therapy-funding motion as of this month. Prosecutors, for their part, were dismissive of the request. Chief Assistant District Attorney Deborah Tillman told reporters the office considers the motion frivolous, noting it has no bearing on the underlying terrorist threat charge and declining further comment.
The case has also seen turnover on the defense side. Romagnano’s attorney, Jeff Deen, filed a separate motion asking to withdraw from representing him after Romagnano indicated he no longer wanted Deen as his counsel. Deen said he read the sex-therapy motion after it was filed but declined to comment on its contents, noting that Romagnano appeared to be representing himself going forward. Judge Smith had not ruled on the withdrawal motion either.
The unusual filing has drawn attention within Mobile’s legal community, where terrorist threat cases involving local institutions such as Spring Hill College are relatively rare. The case remains pending, with both the funding motion and the question of Romagnano’s legal representation still unresolved as proceedings continue in Mobile County Circuit Court.