Lawyer For Gunman Who Killed Five At Maryland Newspaper Plans Insanity Defense

Attorney Katy O’Donnell said her client, Jarrod Ramos, is not criminally responsible of killing five people at a Maryland newspaper due to mental illness.

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — The man who killed five people at a Maryland newspaper was delusional and believed the state’s judicial system was conspiring with the Capital Gazette to persecute him and ruin his life, his attorney told a jury Tuesday, trying to make the case that Jarrod Ramos is not criminally responsible for the crimes due to mental illness. Hours after hearing that, jurors saw photographs of the dead from shotgun blasts in their own newsroom. They saw Wendi Winters collapsed in a hallway after she had just charged at Ramos with a trash can. They saw Gerald Fischman crumpled under his desk. They saw Rob Hiaasen dead in his cubicle. They also saw John McNamara dead at the back of the newsroom. Rebecca Smith died later at a hospital. They also saw an officer’s body camera video, showing Ramos emerging from under a desk in the newsroom and police officers later leading him out.