Sunday, May 02, 1999
Successful insanity pleas in Tristate
Insanity pleas are not uncommon in Tristate criminal cases. Here are some local high-profile cases which have ended in insanity verdicts:
• Butler County: Raymond Tanner, a former meat cutter from Fairfield who beheaded his wife, Maria, 21, was found not guilty by reason of insanity in 1990. He was released from a mental institution two years ago, but must see a therapist and is still under court supervision.
• Clermont County: Frank Pence, a 78-year-old retired school custodian from Withamsville, was found not guilty by reason of insanity in October 1996 for beating his wife, Marian, to death with a toilet plunger and hammer. He was sent to Dayton Mental Health Center.
• Hamilton County: Wilbur Worthen was found not guilty by reason of insanity in September 1997 for killing community activist Buddy Gray. Mr. Worthen said he thought Mr. Gray, who ran the Drop-Inn Center in Over-the-Rhine, was trying to kill him by pumping nerve gas into his apartment. Mr. Worthen was sent to a psychiatric hospital in Dayton.
• Warren County: Brian Whitacre, a junior at Wright State University, was found not guilty by reason of insanity in August 1994 for the beating death of his mother, Cheryl. Mr. Whitacre bludgeoned his mother with a baseball bat because he thought she was a demon. He is receiving treatment at the Pauline Warfield Lewis Center.
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