[1/2] Francisco Severo Torres looks on in this undated handout picture.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Judith Dein in Boston granted a request by prosecutors for Francisco Severo Torres, 33, to be committed to a facility for a psychiatric evaluation, saying there was reason to believe he was mentally incompetent.
According to prosecutors, about 45 minutes before the flight landed in Boston, the flight crew received an alarm in the cockpit that a door between the first class and coach sections had been disarmed.
Passengers then tackled him and the flight crew restrained him.
Torres was charged with one count of interference and attempted interference with flight crew members and attendants using a dangerous weapon and faces up to life in prison if convicted.