Many of our cases have facts that are difficult to hear, for many reasons. In this case our client, a young man who was psychotic at the time, ignored a stop sign, causing a three-car accident which tragically took the life of an innocent man.
The client was initially charged with First-Degree Reckless Homicide because he had made statements to police that he intentionally ran the stop sign.
We had a motion hearing challenging the client's statements at which time the judge indicated that she was very likely to suppress some, if not all the statements made by the client. That was the first step. After the Court indicated its intentions, the State agreed to reduced the charge from Reckless Homicide to Negligent Homicide. A change from possible multiple decades in prison to a maximum 5 years.
The client resolved the underlying charges, however, we were contesting his ability to differentiate right from wrong and had a jury trial on his mental responsibility.
We called multiple experts who testified that the client was schizophrenic and had bi-polar disorder. The state countered with the fact that he used large amounts of THC which made his mental health symptoms far worse.
The trial was conducted over 2 days. The jury was out for 90 minutes and found the defendant was not responsible for his actions at the time of the accident. After the jury verdict, the court was required to take up the issue of whether the client should be committed to a mental institution or released back into the community to be supervised. At the conclusion of the hearing, the court ruled the defendant shall be released back into the community. He was not committed.
It is an awful situation, hopefully in the community the client will get the treatment he needs to deal with his mental health situation. Very happy for the just outcome.