Defense Attorneys Request Mental Competency Evaluation for Group Leader

Defense lawyers for Jack LaSota, known as "Ziz" and alleged leader of a group connected to six deaths nationwide, are seeking a mental competency evaluation before trial. LaSota was arrested in Maryland last year along with two associates and faces federal weapons charges.

BALTIMORE — Defense attorneys for the alleged leader of a group linked to six fatalities across multiple states requested a mental competency assessment Thursday, telling a federal judge their client may be unfit for trial proceedings.

Jack LaSota, who identifies as a transgender woman and uses the name “Ziz,” was scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court for a two-day suppression hearing regarding evidence gathered during her February arrest in Frostburg, Maryland. However, Judge James Bredar instead considered a competency motion filed by defense counsel the previous evening.

Defense attorney Gary Proctor stated in court documents that he has “reasonable cause to believe that the defendant is presently suffering from a mental disease or defect rendering her mentally incompetent to the extent that she is unable to understand the nature and consequences of the proceedings.”

During Thursday’s proceedings, Proctor explained that LaSota has shown difficulty comprehending court processes, making connections between her fugitive status and transgender identity, and making unfounded accusations against judicial officials. LaSota expressed her desire to handle her own legal representation.

Law enforcement officials have identified LaSota as the presumed head of what observers term the “Zizians” — a collection of young, intellectually gifted technology professionals who reportedly hold extreme views on plant-based diets, animal welfare, gender issues, and artificial intelligence. Beginning in 2022, group members have been connected to multiple violent incidents: a member’s death during an assault on a California property owner, the subsequent murder of that landlord, the fatal shootings of a member’s parents in Pennsylvania, and a deadly gun battle on a Vermont interstate that claimed the lives of a border patrol agent and another group member.

LaSota, along with Michelle Zajko and Daniel Blank, were taken into custody last February after a property owner discovered them residing in box trucks on a remote, snow-covered access road. While none face direct charges in the six fatalities, investigators immediately linked them to the homicide cases spanning California, Pennsylvania, and Vermont.

Maryland State Trooper Brandon Jeffries documented following their February 16, 2025 arrests that all “suspects involved are to be questioned regarding other crimes that have occurred across the country and have ties with the Zizians Cult.”

The trio faces state-level charges including trespassing and unlawful possession of firearms and controlled substances. LaSota additionally confronts a federal charge for illegal weapon possession as a fugitive, plus obstruction charges related to the investigation into Zajko’s parents’ deaths. Officials have designated Zajko as a person of interest in that case while investigating Blank’s potential involvement.

According to recent defense filings, “Ms. LaSota eschews the term Zizian and denies any and all allegations that she and her friends have formed a cult.”

Defense attorneys Proctor and Jennifer Smith contend that law enforcement violated LaSota’s Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures, arguing she wasn’t trespassing since the landowner had granted them additional time to depart. They further claim officers conducted illegal warrantless searches of the box trucks, making any recovered evidence inadmissible at trial.

Federal prosecutors responded that officers had sufficient grounds to arrest LaSota and her companions for trespassing, regardless of extended permission that couldn’t apply retroactively. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jared Beim maintained that officers were justified in conducting protective sweeps for weapons and hidden individuals based on officer safety concerns and reasonable suspicions about the group’s potential for violence, drawn from media coverage.