Episode 80 | Insanity Plea saves 'Werewolf Killer' from Life in Prison (and other INSANE stories)

Back in 2018 Brad Jackson was brutally murdered by a man he didn't know. The man, Pankaj Bhasin (aka the Werewolf Killer) suffered a complete mental derailing and attacked and killed Jackson because he thought he was turning into a werewolf. It's a shocking story especially considering the killer is now out of a mental hospital after a 3-year stay and job-hunting. He's also been found to be hunting dates on social media! In this episode we'll be looking deeper into this most bizarre case as well as some other high profile 'not guilty by reason of insanity' cases. ★Enjoy!

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Transcript

Prologue

Even in this digital age of Tinder, Bumble, Instagram DM’s, Twitter DM’s, where it’s become increasingly common to start a relationship online, where it’s no longer socially implied that you’re gonna have to lie about how you met, there’s still a certain amount of reasonable caution when it comes to online dating. The early 2000’s term ‘catfishing’ is still very much applicable – you never really know who it is behind that profile. Could be a face that’s nothing like the one you see on their profile pic. Could be a decade old picture that might as well be a different face. Could be a man pretending to be a woman. Could be a woman pretending to be a man. Could be a man who stabbed a guy 53 times because he was convinced he was a werewolf. 

That’s what east coast users of such apps encountered in   September, unbeknownst to them. The so-called ‘werewolf killer’ on Bumble and elsewhere, describing himself as ‘an easy going adventurer who believes in universal connection with all and love to explore n try new things.’ 

Having just been released after spending 3 years in a mental hospital in Virginia , he wrote that he had recently returned from ‘two years of travel’.

Act I (timeline of the incident)

In the early morning of July 13th, 2018, 34-year-old Pankaj Bhasin drove from his New Jersey home to the D.C. area. He entered a Four Seasons Hotel with a can of gasoline and demanded a room. After a hotel worker asked him to leave, he said, ‘90 percent, if I die, everybody dies. . . . There’s still time to save everyone.’ He added that ‘today is going to be a bad day.’

He then made his way to Old Town in Alexandria, VA, where he walked into an alley near the Window Universe store to look at boxes that he believed contained human DNA. 

There he saw Brad Jackson, the 65-year-old store manager, and followed him into the store, thinking that Jackson had information about the boxes. Jackson eventually confronted Bhasin, and as their interaction got more and more heated, Bhasin began to fight him, beating him, and stabbing him 53 times with a box cutter and gouging his eyes. 

Bhasin left the building covered in blood. Police later found him naked from the waist down in a car nearby.

Bhasin told police and doctors that Jackson began turning into a werewolf during their encounter. He said he had to kill Jackson to ‘save 99 percent of the moon and planets.’

Act II (exploration of not guilty by reason of insanity + past cases)

So how he is not in jail right now? How does one get out of something like this, how does one get to a position where they’re able to be on dating apps after having stabbed a guy 53 times because they were convinced he was a werewolf? What’s the secret? Successfully impugning the character or credibility of the prosecution’s most important witnesses? A selection of incredibly biased jurors? Bribery? Dirt on the judge? The guy was actually a werewolf?

It’s simple, and not a secret at all. Not guilty by reason of insanity.

The Bouvier Law Dictionary explains that not guilty by reason of insanity is a plea ‘essentially admitting the defendant committed the act of the offense, yet denying responsibility because the defendant lacked the capacity to act with criminal intent at the time.’

In order for the so-called ‘insanity defense’ to be successful, the defendant must prove, through the evidence provided, two things:

1. That they were suffering from a severe mental disease or defect, and;
2. That as a result of that mental disease or defect, they did not know that their conduct at the time of the crime was wrong. 

Even though the insanity plea is actually used in less than 1% of all criminal cases in the U.S Criminal Justice System, there’s still a long history of both successful, and unsuccessful, invocations of it (and no limit when it comes to the range of examples).

In 1993, Lorena Bobbitt was arrested after cutting off her then husband’s reproductive organ. Bobbitt argued that she suffered years of abuse and was sexually assaulted by John Bobbitt, which is what caused her to snap and cut off his genitals. Due to her just – key word – snapping momentarily, the jury found her not guilty by reason of temporary insanity. 

In 2001, Andrea Yates confessed to drowning her five children in their bathtub. In 2002, she was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. In 2005, however, her conviction was overturned to false testimony of a prosecution witness (who, bizarrely enough, stated that shortly before the murders, an episode of Law & Order had aired featuring a woman who drowned her children, and was acquitted of murder by reason of insanity), and when Yates was re-tried in 2006 she was found not guilty by reason of insanity. 

Yates had a long medical history of suffering from severe postpartum depression and postpartum psychosis, and she had experienced episodes of psychotic behavior after the birth of each of her children, so Yates’s attorneys insisted that her post-partum depressions played a significant role in causing her actions.

Alongside the predictable serial killers and mass shooters, another category of perpetrators that are frequent beneficiaries of the insanity defense are would-be presidential assassins.

Richard Lawrence, the first known person to attempt to assassinate a sitting US president, tried and failed to shoot President Andrew Jackson in 1835 (his weapon misfired twice, after which he was beaten by none other than Jackson himself, with Jackson’s cane). During his trial he was prone to wild rants, refused to recognize the legitimacy of the proceedings, and at one point said to the courtroom, ‘It is for me, gentlemen, to pass judgment on you, and not you upon me.’

The jury found Lawrence not guilty by reason of insanity after five minutes of deliberation. 

In 1912, John Flammang Schrank attempted to assassinate then former President Theodore Roosevelt, who famously just continued with his speech with the bullet lodged in his chest. 

Psychologists examined Schrank and reported that he had ‘insane delusions, grandiose in character,’ declaring him to be insane. At his trial, the would-be assassin claimed that the late President William McKinley had visited him in a dream and told him to avenge his assassination by killing Roosevelt.

Perhaps the most famous of all, John Hinckley Jr. In 1981 Hinckley developed an obsession with the movie Taxi Driver, and specifically with Jodie Foster. He then began a long series of attempts to get her attention; stalking her by relocating to New Haven, Connecticut, near Yale University, where she was enrolled, signing up for a Yale writing class, slipping her poems and messages through her door, calling her persistently, even considering taking his own life in front of her, and finally settling for assassinating President Ronald Reagan. His attempt proved unsuccessful, despite shooting him six times.

Hinckley’s defense team pled for an insanity defense and overwhelmingly succeeded; he was acquitted of all 13 charges of assault, murder, and weapon  counts. The high profile of the case led to a public outcry so enormous that it led to the Insanity Defense Reform Act of 1984, which made it significantly more difficult to obtain a verdict of not guilty only by reason of insanity. Idaho, Montana, and Utah abolished the defense altogether.

After the trial, Hinckley wrote that the shooting was ‘the greatest love offering in the history of the world’ and was disappointed that Foster did not reciprocate his love.

Generally speaking, there’s no such thing as a case – no awful pun intended – too insane for the insanity defense. Too ridiculous.

But these next ones are certainly testing that claim. 

In 1994, Jonathan Schmitz was invited onto an episode of the Jenny Jones Show entitled ‘Same Sex Secret Crushes’. The show’s producers invited Schmitz to the show, explaining that a secret admirer of his would be revealed – that secret admirer was Scott Amedure, an associate of Schmitz. 

The producers reasserted that Schmitz was fully aware that the show was about same-sex crushes. Schmitz would later claim that he expected to find his ex-girlfriend on stage but found Amedure instead, who would go on to describe his sexual fantasy involving Schmitz on the program. Three days later, Amedure left Schmitz a suggestive note. Upon finding the note, Schmitz purchased a shotgun, confronted him, and shot him twice in the chest, killing him. 

The defense used by Schmitz’s attorneys was known as the ‘gay panic defense’, defined as a state of temporary insanity caused by undesirable homosexual advances. Schmitz, however, was ultimately found guilty.

In 1981, Steven Steinberg was accused of murdering his wife, stabbing her 26 times. Steinberg didn’t deny killing his wife, but he did claim to have done so while sleepwalking, which technically meant he wasn't in his right mind at the time. The closest analogy to this assertion was the insanity defense. A jury found Steinberg not guilty on the grounds that he – also – was temporarily insane when he killed her – and because he was deemed ‘sane’ at the time of his acquittal, Steinberg walked out of court a free man.

All of a sudden a werewolf slaying, moon and planet saving murderer seems like a pretty run-of-the mill nutcase to take on. 

Act III (the trial)

The jury trial of Pankaj Bhasin commenced in March 2019. Numerous treating mental health professionals were brought forward, in addition to two expert witnesses, to comment on Bhasin’s mental state. Bhasin was represented by defense attorney Peter Greenspun. 

So how did the defense approach proving those two points necessary for a successful insanity defense? How about the first one, the fact that the perpetrator was suffering from a severe mental disease or defect? 

The doctors’ and experts’ evaluations were obviously invaluable, though Greenspun would also focus on one specific aspect to make it more convincing and easily comprehensible to the jury – the incredibly abrupt nature of the radical shift in Bhasin’s behavior, lacking the required planning or premeditation of the crime, for it to be considered one committed of sound mind. 

Friends and family did testify that Bhasin had been a successful, happy person up until very recently; he was living in Washington and working as a risk analyst before leaving his job to travel the world, and he had returned to New Jersey about eight months before the attack to help take care of his sick father.

It was then that those around him noticed that he began acting bizarrely. He was drinking his own urine and gasoline, and would claim to be the Hindu god of death Yama.

Bhasin was hospitalized in June 2018 – just one month before the incident – after attacking his parents, saying that they were trying to poison him and that he had to kill them so he could take them to heaven. He responded to medication, but when he was released six days later he quickly deteriorated and then disappeared. His parents were looking for him when the police called to say he was in custody in Virginia. 

Greenspun jumped on that, emphasizing the fact that ‘Mr. Bhasin did not have a significant mental health history until mid-June 2018. His condition took a downward spiral over less than a month. There was no connection at all between Mr. Bhasin and the deceased.’

As far as the second point – the perpetrator not being aware that their conduct at the time of the crime was wrong – that’s where the defense leaned much more heavily on the expert evaluations.

Five doctors separately diagnosed Bhasin with bipolar 1 disorder, and Greenspun argued that Bhasin’s mental illness made him unable to understand his own actions that day. 

He went on to describe it as ‘a case of tragedy for the Jackson friends and family and also for Pankaj Bhasin and his family. The sudden and heartbreaking serious mental health deterioration of a man suffering from severe bipolar disorder was the sole cause of this random and otherwise inexplicable act.’

The two expert witnesses also concluded that Bhasin met the definition of legal insanity.

Prosecutors did not at first put on an expert to counter testimony, nor did they dispute the medical consensus, but contended that Bhasin exaggerated his symptoms to cover up an intentional crime, stressing that ‘intelligent people like the defendant know what to say to mental-health professionals’, and also pointing out that after the attack Bhasin showed awareness of his actions, telling a detective, ‘Clearly I’m going to jail for something. I’ve done this. I’ve got to have penance.’

The case did initially result in a mistrial on March 27th after the jury deliberated for three days but could not reach a unanimous verdict. It was determined that, while not unanimous, at least nine of the 12 jurors were in favor of a not guilty by reason of insanity verdict.

That’s when the commonwealth's attorney's office ordered its own psychiatric evaluation, following the mistrial, and that doctor agreed that Bhasin was clinically insane when he killed Jackson.

In light of that conclusion, the Commonwealth's Attorney said that it would be unethical to put Bhasin on trial again.

On July 1st, 2019, Pankaj Bhasin was found not guilty by reason of insanity. 

He was ordered to be confined at the Northern Virginia Mental Health Institute. 

Epilogue

Bhasin was released from the facility earlier this year, his doctors judging that he’s well enough to rejoin the community. An Alexandria judge signed an order for what was called a ‘conditional release’. 

Friends of Jackson voiced their distress with the decision, one saying that ‘it’s terrifying to think that after three years, this is acceptable – that this is what we call justice. It’s scary.’ Another simply said that ‘anyone that’s capable of doing that is capable of doing that again.’

The commonwealth’s attorney’s office also stated that they ‘strenuously’ objected to the release.

A review hearing will be held in December of this year to evaluate whether or not the plan for Bhasin’s release is working.

Shortly after reports of Bhasin’s dating profile went public, prosecutors filed a motion to either prohibit Bhasin from using the Internet, social media or online dating programs, or require software to monitor his Internet use, claiming that his dating profile misrepresented what has happened in recent years.

Bhasin’s attorney countered that the profile was cut and pasted from an old profile Bhasin created prior to Jackson’s death, and claimed that Bhasin is ‘doing well in his return to the community, working with his treatment team and taking college classes.’

The judge was unconvinced. 

Bhasin was told to stay off social media as long as he's on conditional release. He will be allowed to keep using LinkedIn as he looks for a job.

A shortcut to freedom is granted by ‘not guilty by reason of insanity’, at the cost of a shortcut to getting laid.