David Cleveland will undergo a second psychological evaluation before going to trial, this one requested by the state.

Cleveland was involved in a head-on collision on Thanksgiving Day last year that resulted in the death of Jeremy Moon, 27, of Fontana, Calif.

The accident also severely injured Jeremy Moon's wife, Anna Moon, and his cousin, Crystal Lopez, who was 15 at the time of the accident.

Cleveland faces six felony charges, including three driving under the influence of a controlled substance (listed in the criminal complaint as cocaine) causing substantial bodily harm, one count of the same causing death and two charges of unlawful use of a controlled substance.

Cleveland was already sent to the Lakes Crossing mental health facility in northern Nevada when his competency to stand trial or enter a plea was in question last February.

He was deemed competent and ultimately pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.

The state, however, has since filed a motion requesting a second psychological evaluation to establish whether Cleveland was insane at the time of the accident.

Kirk Vitto, prosecuting for the state, maintained that since Cleveland chose to plead he was insane at the time of the crime, the state had the authority to request the evaluation.

"It is the position of the state that the authority for the evaluation is the defendant's putting his sanity before the court, putting the state on notice that we are going to need an expert to combat the expert that they bring to say he was insane at the time of the crime," Vitto said.

Furthermore, Vitto had filed a second motion asking that the court strike the insanity plea, thus forcing Cleveland to enter a simple guilty or not guilty plea.

"Frankly, I don't think it fits," Vitto said. "The only element of the crime that an insanity plea would attach to is that he somehow didn't understand the nature of his conduct, in terms of right and wrong, in so far as the voluntary ingestion of controlled substances."

Osvaldo Fumo, one of Cleveland's team of defense attorneys, asked that Cleveland's evaluation instead be conducted by an expert in Las Vegas instead of sending Cleveland to Lakes Crossing.

"Sending him up to Lakes Crossing, we don't know how long that evaluation is going to take," Fumo said. "It could be six or eight weeks -- that's six or eight weeks where we won't have contact with my client."

Vitto emphasized that by having Cleveland evaluated prior to the trial, he was getting a head start on the proceedings and helping to ensure the Oct. 23 trial date.

"We're just trying to jump on this now," Vitto told the court. "They're going to present this as evidence to the jury; they're going to have to get an expert. I'm just trying to get the process started. I want to save this trial date as well."

In regard to having Cleveland evaluated by a Las Vegas expert, Vitto said he was confident that the evaluation would not take long, estimating it would take 14 days.

Judge Robert Lane ultimately decided that the defense had 30 days to have Cleveland evaluated by their expert and present the findings to the state.

The state can then choose whether to have Cleveland evaluated by its own expert and must complete that evaluation within 30 days as well.

If the defense takes more than 30 days to complete the evaluation, it waives the right to enter a guilty by reason of insanity plea.

Regarding the motion to strike the insanity part of Cleveland's guilty plea altogether, Lane said he would rule on that motion Sept. 17 as the defense had not yet had the opportunity to review or respond to that motion.