GUILDERLAND — Before any legal proceeding against Patricia M. Dudley can get underway, she must undergo a competency test, Judge John Bailey said on Thursday, Aug. 31 in Guilderland Town Court.

Guilderland Police say that Dudley, 61, was on prescription antipsychotic drugs when, on Aug. 28, she deliberately drove her car into a utility pole in an effort to hurt her husband, who was in the passenger seat.

“Based on information the court has had access to, I’ve had some serious concerns about whether Ms. Dudley is capable of participating in her defense, which is essential,” Bailey said in court. “We cannot proceed if she is not able to participate.”

He ordered a full competency exam to determine if she is able to participate in her defense. “If she is not,” Bailey said, “then this will have to wait till she is.”

Dudley is charged with two felonies — first-degree reckless endangerment and third-degree criminal mischief — and with a misdemeanor: driving while under the influence of drugs.

She lives at 2872 West Lydius St. in Guilderland. Albany County tax rolls show that the house there, valued at $168,118, is owned by John C. Dudley III and Patricia M. Dudley.

Her attorney, Mark A. Juda of Schenectady, asked the judge to allow her to move from Albany County’s jail to a room that, he said, her family had arranged for her at Ellis Mental Health.

In jail, Dudley is not getting all of the medication that she needs, for her mental-health issues or for her cancer, Juda said.

If she were moved to Ellis, the hospital would have an understanding that she could not be released without contacting the court, Juda argued in court.

Assistant District Attorney Collin D’Arcy of the Albany County District Attorney’s Office expressed concerns about the possibility that Dudley might be released at some point and asked that, pending the competency exam, she be returned to the jail.

Juda said he was worried that jail officials would not begin to make any provisions for the test until after the long holiday weekend.

Bailey said he would stay in touch and be available all weekend and that, if Juda could present evidence that it’s not happening, “I will write the order to send her to Ellis.”

As the judge and the attorneys were discussing issuing an order of protection for Dudley’s husband, Clerk to the Justices Jennifer Stephens informed them one had already been issued.

On Sept. 6, Juda said that Dudley had been transported, by court order, from the jail to Ellis Hospital, and that she had not yet had her competency test.

Dudley has a return court date of Oct. 12, Stephens said.