All three defendants were involved in unrelated, high-profile cases including a deadly stabbing on Burlington’s Church Street and a fatal meat cleaver attack in the city’s Old North End.
George announced Tuesday that she had concluded the defendants were legally insane at the time of the crimes and would not be found guilty of the charges against them at trial. She filed to dismiss the charges last Friday.
“Despite retention of expert forensic psychiatrists” who evaluated the defendants, the state does not have evidence to rebut their insanity defenses, George said in a press release. “Therefore the state cannot meet its burden of proving defendants are guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Lawyers for all three mounted the insanity defense in pretrial filings and hired expert witnesses that concluded the defendants had severe mental illnesses that prevented them from “conforming their behavior” to the law.
All three are in custody of the Vermont Department of Mental Health. It’s unclear how long they will remain committed.
George wrote that it is the state’s expectation that the three will be treated until they are no longer a risk to themselves or others and the “interests of justice have been served.”
She also said the dismissals do not undermine the “heroic” work by the Vermont State Police and Burlington Police Department to respond, arrest and investigate the three defendants.
George could not be reached for further comment late Tuesday.
Read the dismissal letters for each case below:
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This story seriously downplays the necessary context for these dismissals. The State conferred with the Department of Mental Health, which said that it would continue to detain and treat these Defendants until they are no longer a harm to the community (which could be never), and that it makes no difference to them whether there is a not guilty by reason of insanity verdict or a dismissal because of insanity. Bottom line: they’re going to be detained indefinitely, so long as they’re a danger to the community.
stellaquarta-yes, all three people “could” be detained indefinitely. However, if DMH were to so deem, any or all could be released in a couple years. Or less
Yes, DMH will make determinations as to whether these defendants pose a danger to the community. That’s exactly what would happen if they were found not guilty by reason of insanity. And that’s what WOULD happen if the SA’s office took the case to trial, because they hired experts to offer opinions that the defendants weren’t insane, and the experts wouldn’t do that – they agreed with the defense. It would be unethical and a waste of taxpayer money for the SA’s office to go to trial WITHOUT an expert witness to say the defendants were not insane.
These low lives will be set free from their mental health institutions in a matter of months, and back out on the streets with no correctional supervision or regulation whatever!
Could someone please explain to me how someone can stab another person with a meat cleaber…chopped, hacked sliced, perhaps not stabbed. I guess the verbiage had to to be changed to lessen the mental impact of the crime.
These people should not be labelled “lowlives.: It is precisely this kind of discrimination that delineates the divide between physical and mental health issues. The lowlife is the person who believes that mental illness isn’t real, or can’t be treated at DMH. While no psychiatrist can state with certitude whether a person will never commit a felonious assault in the future, the fact remains that with competent care, mentally ill individuals with appropriate treatment can become functioning members of society. The criticism by the person calling them “lowlives” would never be leveled against a diabetic or a person with Crohn’s disease, yet the medical profession does not distinguish between all these conditions as being real, medical treatable conditions. We must overcome the bias against seeing mental illness as real, especially now that mental illness is growing in our society.
Oh for gods sake.
Im waiting for you to also chastise us for calling the crazed white supremacist who killed the protester in Charlottesville a lowlife. He clearly also has a mental disorder, but I haven’t heard you defending HIM against discrimination.
I wish there was a ‘reply’ feature for comments. In response to Barbara Alsop taking offense at calling these people ‘low lifes’…
They are not being called low lifes because they’re mentally ill. They are rightly denigrated because they seriously harmed innocent people and caused lifelong misery to countless others. Nobody is calling for their heads or being hysterical.
Those who harm others need to be held accountable for their crimes and residents are understandably concerned that Vermont’s mental health treatment is not adequate. With all the actual horrendous things happening that would inspire offense and outrage, this is not one. Check yourself.
In response to stellaquarta:
Your post only reinforces the notion that Sarah George is ineffective.
A doctor will eventually sign off on their freedom, and they will go right back into society without ever having faced a trial, which is unacceptable.