HUDSON, Wis. (WCCO/AP) — A jury said the Wisconsin father accused of killing his three daughters had a mental illness or defect when he committed the crime. However, the jury believes Aaron Schaffhausen knew what he was doing and therefore has rejected his insanity plea.
The jury deliberated for nearly four hours Tuesday before coming to a consensus. The verdict was unanimous.
With the jury’s decision that Schaffhausen knew what was happening when the murders occurred, he will be sent to prison for what could be a life sentence. Had he been found insane, he would’ve been sent to a psychiatric institution, where he could have been released at some point.
Schaffhausen will be sentenced at a later date, possibly after mid-July, though the defense says it will appeal Tuesday’s verdict.
Attorney John Kucinski said the judge instructed the jury on motive when it wasn’t relevant to the case. He also said the judge shouldn’t have denied the jury’s request to have expert reports in the room as they deliberated.
The Trial
Schaffhausen pleaded guilty in St. Croix County Circuit Court to three counts of first-degree intentional homicide and one count of attempted arson, but maintained throughout the trial that he’s not responsible for killing 11-year-old Amara, 8-year-old Sophie, and 5-year-old Cecilia because of a mental illness.
Earlier on Tuesday, prosecutors said Schaffhausen was in control of his actions and decided that a “selfish desire for revenge” was more important than his daughters’ lives.
In his closing arguments, prosecutor Gary Freyberg told jurors that Schaffhausen was in control of his actions, and that he is a mean, callous person — but not legally insane.
Defense attorney John Kucinski said earlier that Schaffhausen has a rare mental disorder, rooted in a deep dependency on his wife.
Kucinski said the only way Schaffhausen believed he could “solve” that problem was to commit suicide or homicide. He said the slayings were “psychogenetic killings” that arose from Schaffhausen’s mental disease, triggered by the end of his marriage and loss of his children through divorce.
Aaron and Jessica Schaffhausen divorced in January 2011. Jessica and the girls stayed in the house in River Falls, Wis.. Aaron took a construction job in Minot, N.D.
According to the complaint, Aaron Schaffhausen texted his ex-wife on July 10, 2012, to ask for an unscheduled visit with the girls. She consented but said he had to be gone before she got home because she didn’t want to see him. The girls’ babysitter told investigators the children were excited when he arrived. The babysitter left. He called his wife about two hours later to say he’d killed their children.
Police arrived to find the girls lying in their beds, their throats slit and their blankets pulled up to their necks. White T-shirts were tied around their necks to keep their blood off his own clothes as he put them in bed, prosecutors said. Cecilia also showed signs of strangulation.
Under Wisconsin law, to find Schaffhausen insane, at least 10 of the 12 jurors had to find evidence that shows he suffered from a “mental disease or defect” that led him to lack the capacity either to appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct or conform his conduct to the requirements of law.
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