Washington ? The government can continue forcibly medicating the man accused of killing two U.S. Capitol Police officers as authorities assess his competency to stand trial, a federal judge ordered Friday.

U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan granted the government’s request that Russell Weston remain on the medication for 120 days.

“The defendant’s mental health condition is improving,” Sullivan said during a hearing. Based on his observation and other evidence, the judge said, the medication would create “a substantial possibility … for the trial to proceed in the foreseeable future.”

Sullivan ordered a Nov. 19 hearing just before the 120-day period expires to reassess the situation.

Weston is charged with gunning down officers Jacob Chestnut and John Gibson in 1998 as they manned their posts inside the Capitol. He could face the death penalty if convicted.

Weston is accused of barging through a Capitol metal detector, shooting Chestnut in the head and then shooting Gibson during a gun battle in which Weston was also shot. Gibson was assigned to the No. 3 Republican in the House, Whip Tom DeLay of Texas.

Dr. Sally Johnson, a psychiatrist who has observed Weston at the federal prison in Butner, N.C., where he is incarcerated, said there was a substantial probability that Weston could regain his competence within the next 18 months.

Weston’s public defender, A.J. Kramer, said his client’s condition has not improved since authorities began forcibly administering medicines to him in January, and Weston is still delusional.

Weston, who was wounded during the 1998 incident with gunshots to his buttocks, arms and face, arrived in court in a wheelchair with a bandage around his wrist.

He appeared to listen intently to Kramer and nod during a brief conference before the hearing.

“How are you?” Sullivan asked the defendant.

“About the same,” Weston replied.

Asked whether he had received his medication that morning, Weston answered, “Yes sir.”

“Any problems in jail?” Sullivan inquired.

“No,” Weston said.

Looking on during the 10-minute-long proceedings were Chestnut’s widow, Wendy, and two brothers, as well as Capitol Police Sgt. Jack DeWolfe.

Weston has a lengthy history of mental illness, including chronic paranoid schizophrenia. At the time of the killings, he believed government agents were out to get him, that a computer chip in one of his teeth let him communicate with Russia’s ambassador and that he had the power to reverse time. He had been living in a cabin in Montana.

After his arrest, Weston refused to take anti-psychotic drugs for more than two years. Doctors said that without medicine he is not stable enough for trial.

Sullivan eventually ordered Weston to be medicated and an appeals court upheld the ruling, despite protests from his attorneys that forced medication violates Weston’s Fifth Amendment right to due process.

Last December, the Supreme Court declined to hear the case.