Post by Joanna on Feb 26, 2015 23:14:07 GMT -5
'Werewolf' on Trial for Killing 'Vampire'
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. – Six men and six women are now deciding the fate of Mark Andrews (above left), 51, the Atascadero man accused of shooting and killing his neighbor in May 2013. Closing arguments finished just before 3 p.m. Thursday.
“I just want to be executed and die,” Mark Andrews said to his mother in a voice recording. Deputy District Attorney Matt Kraut played the recording during closing arguments. Andrews pled not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity for the murder of 52-year-old Colleen Barga-Milbury (above right). Andrews has suffered from schizophrenia for the past 20 years and his attorney says his client has delusions. “God told my client to kill the vampire, not Colleen,” defense attorney Ilan Funke-Bilu said, explaining his client believed he was a werewolf and Ms. Barga-Milbury was a vampire. Funke-Bilu claims Andrews had psychotic breaks in 1993, 1996, 2006, 2009 and 2013.
Prior to trial, Andrews was evaluated by three doctors. Two concluded he was insane at the time of the shooting, but the third insisted he was sane. Psychologist Carolyn Murphy testified that Andrews is schizophrenic but not a psychopath. He has suffered from long-term delusions, including his belief that he transforms into a werewolf or embodies the spirit of one, she said.
Following the fatal shooting, Andrews told police he was not taking his medication. He also confessed to killing Ms. Barga-Millbury and told police he felt an evil coming from her and believed she was a vampire. So on May 22, 2013, he drove to her residence with a loaded lever-action .30-30 rifle and knocked on her door. When she answered, he “shot her in the gut,” he allegedly told detectives. The woman was also shot in the head. Her 15-year-old son was at school when the shooting occurred. However, the judge tossed the murder confession, ruling that Atascadero police violated Andrews’ Miranda rights while questioning him.
Andrews had previously believed another neighbor was evil, according to court records. In 2009, he called police to complain the other neighbor was a vampire that had molested him. The neighbor told police Andrews had been watching Twilight movies — about vampires — and had left small mounds of dirt or flour on her doorstep. Once he pounded on her door, but she did not answer. Andrews was taken to Mental Health Services following his 2009 call to police. But later his attention allegedly shifted to Ms. Barga-Milbury, a fellow Atascadero High School graduate who worked in food services at Atascadero State Hospital, where Andrews’ father had worked as a psychiatric technician.
Kraut argued that although Andrews has a mental illness, he was sane when he killed Ms. Barga-Milbury's and did not mention anything about supernatural creatures in May of 2013. “He was on point. He was organized. He was not psychotic. And that's exactly how he was when he killed Colleen in the entry way of her own home – in cold blood,” Kraut said, explaining the defendant's gun was no more than 24 inches from his victim's head, according to ballistics experts.
Funke-Bilu insisted that his client should be treated for his mental illness, not convicted for it. “The way we treat our mentally ill is a serious flaw in our society,” the defense attorney said.
Judge John Trice explained to jurors they have one of three options for their verdict: guilty of first-degree murder, guilty of second-degree murder and not guilty. If they come back with a guilty verdict, the trial will move to a second phase to determine Andrews' sanity.
Sources: Lili Tan, KSBY News; CalCoastNews, and Patrick S. Pemberton, The Tribune.