NEW YORK (CMC):

A United States federal judge in New York has given permission for psychologists to examine the Guyana-born alleged mastermind behind the plot to blow up John F. Kennedy International Airport.

In a very brief ruling Wednesday, Justice Dora L. Irizarry of Federal District Court in Brooklyn granted lawyers representing Russell M. DeFreitas, 63, permission to bring in two psychologists to examine their client, where he is held at the Federal Detention Center in Brooklyn.

The judge said the psychologists can examine DeFreitas "as long as necessary" before he goes on trial for plotting to blow up the airport and a huge swath of its environs in Queens.

Earlier this month, Andrew Carter, the lead attorney representing DeFreitas, had asked Justice Irizarry to allow the test to determine his client's "intellectual limitations".