MADISON, Wis. (AP) – A jury on Thursday found a former Wisconsin sheriff’s deputy with Lou Gehrig’s disease not legally responsible in the killing of his wife and sister-in-law.
Andrew Steele, 40, will be committed for life to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, which will conduct a predisposition investigation. The presiding judge, Nicholas McNamara, will then decide whether Steele, a native of Saginaw Township, Michigan, should be sent to an institution or released.
Steele showed little emotion as a judge in Dane County read the verdict early Thursday after a jury deliberated for about 10 hours through the night.
Defense attorney Jessa Nicholson was one of the lawyers who convinced jurors that Steele suffered from a neurocognitive disorder as a result of the disease.
“I’m proud that the science triumphed over the emotion, I’m proud that the jury was conscientious, that they listened to all of the evidence and they reached the right result,” Nicholson said.