Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Insanity pleas accepted in homicide case

By: Associated Press//June 16, 2017//

Insanity pleas accepted in homicide case

By: Associated Press//June 16, 2017//

Listen to this article

BLACK RIVER FALLS, Wis. (AP) — A Wisconsin man who fatally shot his father and then burned and buried the body has been found not guilty by reason of insanity.

The Leader-Telegram reports a judge on Thursday ordered 23-year-old Lars Helgeson to be sent to a mental health facility.

The Hixton man had pleaded guilty to first-degree intentional homicide in the 2013 death of his father, Brian Helgeson.

But after Monroe County Judge Mark Goodman heard comments from a psychiatrist and attorneys, he ruled Helgeson lacked the capacity to understand the wrongfulness of his actions.

Jackson County District Attorney Gerald Fox says Helgeson had delusions that his father was persecuting and abusing him, though there wasn’t evidence of abuse. A forensic psychiatrist testified that Helgeson showed symptoms of schizophrenia.

Helgeson will be treated at Mendota Mental Health Institute in Madison.

Polls

Should Steven Avery be granted a new evidentiary hearing?

View Results

Loading ... Loading ...

Legal News

See All Legal News

WLJ People

Sea all WLJ People

Opinion Digests