Insanity plea accepted in Missouri VA hospital killing

Insanity plea accepted in Missouri VA hospital killing
The Associated Press
Tuesday, September 24, 2013

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- A man accused of beating a fellow Veterans Affairs hospital patient to death won't be tried for murder after a prosecutor accepted his insanity plea Monday, citing a second doctor's diagnosis that the defendant is schizophrenic.

Rudy Perez, 33, of Sedalia, Mo., had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity or mental defect in the Feb. 1 killing of Robert O. Hill, 78, at Truman Memorial Veterans Hospital in Columbia, Mo. Hill, of Warsaw, Mo., was a patient, and Perez was there on a 96-hour involuntary commitment from Pettis County after an alleged assault on his father.

Perez had been scheduled for trial Oct. 1 in Boone County Circuit Court. But prosecutor Dan Knight dropped the murder charge Monday, noting doctors' findings that Perez had a history of hallucinations and paranoid delusions, KRCG-TV reported.
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