Insanity defense rarely successful in Iowa murder case

If Mark Becker is found guilty of first-degree murder, he will go to prison for the rest of his life.

If he is found not guilty by reason of insanity, the court will commit him to a mental facility until he is deemed sane. That could be for the rest of his life - or two years from now. But he could never be retried for the murder of Aplington-Parkersburg football coach Ed Thomas or serve prison time.

Less than 1 percent of all trials result in a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity, according to the American Academy of Psychiatry. More than 90 percent who claim insanity as a defense have a diagnosed mental illness, but only about 25 percent are successful in pursuing that defense.

Becker faces these odds today as the eight-man, four-woman jury decides if he was insane when he shot and killed Thomas on June 24 in the temporary high school weight room.

The jury went into deliberations around noon.

Kyle Marin of Cedar Rapids, convicted of first-degree murder for the stabbing and beating death of two women in 2006, was the most recent defendant in this area to mount an insanity defense. The jury found him guilty; he's now serving a life sentence in prison.

Only a handful of Iowa cases have succeeded using an insanity or diminished-capacity defense, said Robert Rigg, associate professor and director of the Criminal Defense Program at the Drake Law School in Des Moines.

The Iowa Medical and Classification Center in Oakdale now has only two people as patients who were found not guilty by reason of insanity, said Lettie Prell, director of research for the Department of Corrections.

If the jury finds Becker not guilty by reason of insanity, the judge will commit him to a state mental health institution or another facility for a complete psychiatric evaluation. He also will set a hearing to determine Becker's present mental condition, according to the Iowa Rules of Criminal Procedure.

The institution's chief medical officer would have 15 days to make a diagnosis and reach an opinion if Becker is mentally ill and dangerous to himself or to others. Becker also could have a separate independent examination that would be submitted to the court, according to the rules.

Pending the hearing, Becker would be in custody at a health facility or could stay in jail.

At the court hearing, if Becker is no longer mentally ill and no longer a danger to himself and others, the court could release him. If he's found to be mentally ill, he would be committed to a state facility and remain in custody until the court finds him sane.

The institution's chief medical officer would evaluate him every 60 days and report to the court on Becker's condition.

Precedents

Others in Iowa who were successful in not guilty by reason of insanity include:

• Fairfield, 2004: Shuvender Sem, then 24, had been charged with first-degree murder in the stabbing death of 19-year-old Levi Butler, another student at Maharishi University of Management. A judge decided the case.
• Fort Dodge, 1999: David Cottrell, then 47, had been charged with first-degree murder and willful injury in the beating death of his 82-year-old mother. A jury decided the case.
• Denison, 1994: Jewell McDonald, then 45, had been charged with first-degree murder in the stabbing death of her 8-month-old grandson. A judge decided the case.
• Council Bluffs, 1993: Kimberly Martin, then 30, had been charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the shooting deaths of her two children. The Indiana woman had been passing through Iowa when stopped by a trooper after driving away without paying for gasoline. A judge decided the case.
• Dubuque, 1993: Erik Muehl, then 20, had been charged with first-degree murder, accused of beating his father to death with a ball bat. A jury returned the verdict.

-- List compiled by John McGlothlen of The Gazette