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A listening to Monday morning within the homicide trial of 25-year-old Austin Harrouff—the notorious Florida “face eater” accused of fatally stabbing a random couple and attacking one other stranger in 2016—was over in minutes after a choose accepted a last-second plea deal.
Harrouff pleaded not responsible by purpose of madness and Circuit Choose Sherwood Bauer accepted the deal, which was reportedly agreed upon by prosecutors and Harrouff’s protection attorneys in South Florida.
Harrouff shall be despatched to a safe psychological hospital indefinitely—till medical doctors and a choose deem he's now not a public risk, reported WPTV5. Had the trial gone ahead, Harrouff confronted a life sentence in jail if convicted.
Monday was alleged to be the primary day of an roughly three-week trial within the deaths of John Stevens, 59, and his 53-year-old spouse, Michelle Mishcon Stevens. Relations of the couple have been contained in the courtroom when the deal was struck and have been “extraordinarily upset” on the choose’s resolution to simply accept it, reported Courtroom TV.
Harrouff, a 19-year-old Florida State College pupil on the time of the assault, had no prior felony historical past earlier than police arrived on the Stevens’ house to allegedly witness Harrouff biting chunks off John’s face whereas stripped almost bare. Police mentioned Harrouff had stabbed the couple to demise and almost killed their neighbor, Jeffrey Fisher, who rushed over to assist.
Police mentioned the couple was murdered of their storage. Harrouff confronted two counts of first-degree homicide and different fees for the slayings, however repeatedly had his trial delayed by the pandemic and his personal restoration from important accidents he sustained within the assault by consuming a chemical.
The slayings garnered nationwide consideration—largely as a result of the assault was ugly and random, but additionally due to a idea that Harrouff might have been excessive on tub salts or the artificial drug flakka on the time of the homicide.
An lawyer representing Harrouff shot down that idea in 2018, nevertheless, saying his shopper had consumed neither. West Palm Seashore lawyer Nellie King mentioned in a press release Harrouff had been affected by psychological well being struggles “for weeks” earlier than the assault.
First responders described the incident as being notably deranged, with one responding Martin County fireplace and rescue worker noting that Harrouff was “grunting and making animal kind noises” as he was in handcuffs on the bottom, reported TC Palm, citing courtroom docs.
That very same worker reported that Harrouff had “giant chunks of flesh and hair” in his tooth. He’d informed the employee he “smoked some weed” and “drank some alcohol” earlier than the assault, information mentioned.
It was this habits that led Dr. Phillip Resnick, an professional for the protection, to state in 2019 that Harrouff was “actively psychotic,” reported Legislation & Crime. Resnick decided Harrouff suffered from scientific lycanthropy—a a psychiatric syndrome the place a human believes they’re turning right into a wolf.
“The truth that Mr. Harrouff persevered in biting the male sufferer within the presence of law enforcement officials, despite threats of being shot, being tased and receiving a number of kicks to the pinnacle, means that Mr. Harrouff was actively psychotic,” Dr. Phillip Resnick wrote in a report launched by the Martin County State Legal professional’s Workplace, reported the The Palm Seashore Put up.
Consultants for the prosecution agreed that Harrouff was clinically insane, writing in a 2020 report obtained by Legislation & Crime that Harrouff had no means of distinguishing “proper from incorrect.”