SAN JOSE — Richard Tillman will not be prosecuted for allegations that he tried to destroy a post office with his flaming car — while livestreaming the entire saga — pending a competency exam after his court-appointed attorney raised doubt about his mental fitness.
That prompted the 44-year-old defendant, clad in a yellow jumpsuit in a Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Hector Ramon’s courtroom, to lash out and vouch for his perception. Richard Tillman insinuated he would fire the deputy public defender, whose office had just been assigned to represent him at an arraignment hearing Wednesday.
“I’ll prove my competency whenever you like,” Richard Tillman said in open court, before remarking, “He’s obviously not my attorney at this point.”
Richard Tillman, youngest brother of the late San Jose-raised NFL star and Army Ranger Pat Tillman, reacts as he speaks with deputy public defender Brandon Camarillo at the Hall of Justice in San Jose, Calif., Wednesday, July 23, 2025. (Thien-An Truong for Bay Area News Group)
Richard Tillman also interrupted a discussion between Deputy District Attorney Emily Lessard and Ramon over whether the defendant should be granted bail, saying, “I don’t need bail.” Lessard and the judge disagreed over whether bail should be denied on the premise that Richard Tillman posed an ongoing public safety threat.
Ultimately, Ramon ordered Richard Tillman back to jail and set his bail at $135,000, which adheres to the court’s bail schedule for the felony arson, vandalism and explosives possession charges filed against him by the district attorney’s office. His next court appearance, in which a doctor will be appointed to conduct a mental competency evaluation, is scheduled for Aug. 15.
After the hearing, Assistant District Attorney Angela Bernhard said: “There was nothing that happened in court today that changes our opinion that Mr. Tillman poses a danger to the public.”
Richard Tillman was arrested Sunday following a fire call made around 3 a.m. at a post office in the 6500 block of Crown Boulevard. The blaze engulfed the building and took about 90 minutes for San Jose firefighters to extinguish.
Angela Bernhard, assistant district attorney, speaks to media in front of the Hall of Justice in San Jose, Calif., Wednesday, July 23, 2025. (Thien-An Truong for Bay Area News Group)
It was firefighters who pointed out Richard Tillman to a responding San Jose patrol officer.
A probable cause affidavit accompanying the criminal charges describes an on-scene interrogation in which the officer determined that about two hours before the fire erupted, Richard Tillman had purchased “insta-logs” and lighter fluid from a Lucky supermarket.
While livestreaming the sequence on YouTube, Richard Tillman is accused of backing his car into the post office, then igniting the firelogs, which had been doused with lighter fluid and scattered throughout the vehicle. At some point, he also spray-painted “VIVA LA ME” on the exterior of the post office, according to the affidavit.
The criminal investigation is being conducted by the United States Postal Inspection Service and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, in conjunction with San Jose police and arson investigators.
Richard Tillman is the brother of Pat Tillman, the former Arizona Cardinals safety who left the National Football League in 2002 to enlist with his brother Kevin in the Iraq war after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States. After a tour in Iraq as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Pat Tillman trained to become an Army Ranger. He was sent to Afghanistan in 2004, where he was struck by friendly fire and killed on April 22, 2004.
Richard Tillman gained notoriety after giving a profane and hostile eulogy at his brother’s funeral, and had a lengthy history on YouTube before his page was deactivated, making videos under the name of Yeshua HaMashiach (a Hebrew phrase that translates to “Jesus the Messiah”) and also listing himself in his profile description as “The Son of the Most High God.”
Tillman eventually began tying his belief that he is the son of God with a mission to bring down the government, and made an unintelligible reference to the government in court Wednesday.
After the court hearing, the defendant’s father, mother and brother declined to speak to reporters. Earlier this week, they issued a public statement saying “it’s no secret that Richard has been battling severe mental health issues for many years … Unfortunately, securing the proper care and support for him has proven incredibly difficult — or rather, impossible. As a result, none of this is as shocking as it should be.”
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