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Du Pont lawyers announce insanity defense
December 12, 1996Web posted at: 5:00 a.m. EST
MEDIA, Pennsylvania (CNN) -- Two days after chemicals heir John du Pont was ruled competent to stand trial for murder, his lawyers said he suffers from paranoid schizophrenia and announced plans to use an insanity defense.
Du Pont "has been and continues to be psychotic," the attorneys said in court papers filed Wednesday.
The 58-year-old millionaire will stand trial January 21 for the murder of Olympic champion wrestler David Schultz.
Delaware County Judge Patricia Jenkins ruled Monday that du Pont was competent after psychiatrists said heavy doses of anti-psychotic drugs had helped clear his head.
The defense said Wednesday that the exact onset of du Pontıs psychosis was unknown but had evidenced itself long before the January 26, 1995, shooting outside the Schultz home on du Pont's estate.
Du Pont had been a coach and wrestling patron at Villanova University and later built an Olympic-scale training center on his estate, Foxcatcher Farm. He hired Schultz to coach.
No death penalty
DuPont, heir to the DuPont Co. chemical fortune, holed up inside his mansion for two days after the shooting before police captured him
Prosecutors already have decided that du Pont will not face the death penalty. In Pennsylvania, an insanity defense must show du Pont not only was mentally ill but did not know his actions were wrong.
Witnesses testified during the competency hearing that du Pont claimed to be the Dalai Lama, the crown prince of Russia and the Christ child.
Du Pont has been held at a state mental hospital since September, when doctors on both sides agreed he was unable to help his attorneys.
Related stories:
- Du Pont murder trial set for September - July 2, 1996
- Judge declines to delay du Pont trial - February 9, 1996
- Athletes wrestle with the past and future - February 9, 1996
- Du Pont to undergo medical tests - February 6, 1996
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