NEW ULM — After brief discussion Tuesday, a motion for a mental health evaluation for Randy Thomas Zimmerman was approved by Brown County District Court Judge Robert Docherty.

Zimmerman remains in Brown County Jail custody with $10 million bail without conditions, $5 million with conditions.

Last November, a grand jury formally indicted him with first-degree murder in the Nov. 2, 2025 deaths of Justin Reinarts and Tabitha Trescott in Hanska. Initially charged with second-degree murder, a grand jury investigation later in November added nine counts including first and second degree murder.

Fifth-Judicial District Assistant Public Defender Greg Handevidt of Mankato filed a Rule 20.02 evaluation motion April 22 for the court to appoint a qualified psychologist to examine and evaluate Zimmerman’s mental health condition at the moment of the incident and to provide the court with examination findings and evaluation.

The examination should be conducted at the Brown County Jail. The report will contain a diagnosis of the mental condition of Zimmerman, if he is or was mentally ill, or mentally deficient, at the time of the incident and an opinion on whether he may suffer from a mental illness.

“We decided we wanted to move forward with an evaluation after doing our due diligence,” said Handevidt. “We agreed more information was needed to flush the idea out. It’s a first-degree murder case. We want to know if his mental state was impaired by psychosis, a collection of symptoms where a person loses contact with reality, leading to difficulty distinguishing between what is real and what is not.”

Minnesota Assistant Attorney General Daniel Robert Vlieger did oppose the mental health evaluation but said he opposed using a mental health defense based on intoxication.

“Intoxication is merely an element of this,” said Handevidt. “It’s potentially an element that may play into it. I need a qualified expert to flush that out with an evaluation. We can’t leave that on the table.”

Judge Docherty said he approved the evaluation to conclude if mental illness was involved at the time of the incident.

“We’ll wait for the (evaluation) results. We’ll have a clearer picture of what to do next and proceed from there,” he said.

Zimmerman was also indicted for first-degree burglary and second-degree assault-dangerous weapon, according to court documents. An omnibus hearing was set for 8:30 a.m., Tuesday, June 16.