FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) – A prosecution psychiatrist says a Florida college student was legally insane when he fatally attacked a couple outside their home, chewing off part of the man’s face, court documents filed this week show.
Dr. Gregory C. Landrum’s finding bolsters the case of Austin Harrouff’s attorneys, who are planning to argue the 23-year-old should be found not guilty by reason of insanity at his murder trial, which had been scheduled for May but was postponed indefinitely Thursday. He faces a life sentence if convicted of murdering John Stevens and Michelle Mishcon Stevens in August 2016.
Landrum outlined Harrouff’s declining mental state before the killings, including God and demons talking to him, increasing paranoia and other hallucinations. He noted that Harrouff is being treated for schizophrenia while jailed.
As a result, Landrum concluded, “Harrouff was unable to distinguish right from wrong” when he killed the Stevenses – the legal standard in Florida for being found not guilty by reason of insanity.
If Harrouff is found not guilty by reason of insanity, that does not mean he would go free. He would be committed to a state mental hospital and his attorneys have previously conceded it is unlikely that he would ever be released.