http://tinyurl.com/8gmmx
"Sem, charged with first-degree murder and assault with intent to commit serious injury, was scheduled to be tried Tuesday in Jefferson County District Court. Instead, attorneys submitted notebooks of psychiatric reports and depositions, saying they agreed on the facts of the case and wanted Judge Richard Meadows to decide whether Sem is guilty based on the stipulated evidence. Meadows said he hoped to issue a ruling within two weeks. If convicted of first-degree murder, Sem faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole. If Meadows finds Sem not guilty by reason of insanity, Sem will go to the Iowa Medical and Classification Center at Oakdale under the custody of the Department of Human Services, said Sem's lawyer, Alfredo Parrish. The department will issue a report on his condition in 15 days. If Sem is held, human services will evaluate him every two months and send a report to Meadows, Parrish said. Parrish said he recommended Sem waive his right to a jury trial because juries often don't understand mental illness and might not acquit his client, even though psychiatrists agree Sem was insane at the time of the stabbing. ... Before attending Maharishi University, Sem had been hospitalized between nine and 12 times in 2002 and 2003 for psychiatric problems, Barchman said. The predominant diagnosis, she said, was paranoid schizophrenia, which caused auditory and visual hallucinations and acts of violence. Butler transferred to the school in fall 2003 from the College of the Desert in Palm Desert, Calif. Butler's family, who live in La Quinta, Calif., did not attend Tuesday's hearing. Barchman said she did not contact them before agreeing not to seek Sem's conviction. The family is being represented by attorney Larry Scalise, who could not be reached for comment." (more at link) ******** Larry Scalise is a Des Moines-based atty, so I think the Butler family, who lives near Palm Springs, Calif, must be planning on suing (they still have 9 months to file) if they have retained an Iowa atty: http://www.sullivanward.com/larry_scalise.htm To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
