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Insanity Defense

Police & Fire
NJ Man Convicted Of Beating Mom To Death, Prosecutor Says NJ Man Convicted Of Beating Mom To Death, Prosecutor Says
NJ Man Convicted Of Beating Mom To Death, Prosecutor Says A 38-year-old Maplewood resident was convicted on Monday, Oct. 21 of murder charges in his mother's death, which he then framed as a suicide, authorities said. Benjamin Avrut was found guilty of first-degree murder after beating his 70-year-old-mothe Gwen to death, Prosecutor Theodore Stephens said. The jury had rejected Avrut's insanity defense. On Monday, Jan. 4, 2021, Avrut entered his sleeping mother's apartment at The Top, a luxury condominium in Maplewood, Stephens said. When she awoke, Avrut beat her to death with his fists, Stephens said.  Avrut,  who had a hist…

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by Sam Barron
Police & Fire
Montvale Man Convicted Of Murdering Parents, Brothers Freed After 45 Years Montvale Man Convicted Of Murdering Parents, Brothers Freed After 45 Years
Montvale Man Convicted Of Murdering Parents, Brothers Freed After 45 Years A New Jersey convict who drew international attention after he shot and killed his entire family in their Bergen County home on Thanksgiving weekend 47 years ago has been paroled. Harry De La Roche, 64, had been denied six times and was told in 2019 that he'd have to wait until 2028 before he could petition the Parole Board again. However, records show a variety of work, annual reviews and other credits combined to free De La Roche on June 29 after 45 years behind bars. As with all state inmates, the 6-foot-3-inch, 219-pound De La Roche must first pull time at a halfway house while findin…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Dating Profile Of NJ 'Werewolf Killer' Has Prosecutors Worried For Single Women Dating Profile Of NJ 'Werewolf Killer' Has Prosecutors Worried For Single Women
Dating Profile Of NJ 'Werewolf Killer' Has Prosecutors Worried For Single Women Pankaj Bhasin's dating profile says he's an easygoing adventurer who just got back from two years of traveling.  What it doesn't say is that he's nicknamed the "Werewolf Killer" and that his vacation was actually a three-year stint in a Northern Virginia mental institution. Bhasin, 37 — who has ties to Blackwood and East Brunswick, NJ — was found not guilty by reason of insanity a year after he drove from his Central Jersey home to Alexandria, VA and fatally stabbed 65-year-old Bradford Jackson, a complete stranger to him.   Bhasin was released from the N…

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by AJ Goldbloom & Cecilia Levine
Police & Fire
NJ 'Werewolf' Killer To Be Released From VA Mental Institution NJ 'Werewolf' Killer To Be Released From VA Mental Institution
NJ 'Werewolf' Killer To Be Released From VA Mental Institution A New Jersey man who thought he was killing a werewolf when he attacked an Alexandria store manager is set to be released from a mental institution soon, a report says.  Pankaj Bhasin, 37, killed Bradford Jackson, a stranger to him, in 2018. A year later, a Virginia court determined that Bhasin was legally insane at the time of the killing, the Washington Post reported at the time.  Doctors at the Northern Virginia Mental Health Institute now say he's well enough to leave the facility after two years of treatment, and a judge has agreed to allow him a conditional release, NBC…

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by Josh Lanier
News
Imprisoned Gunman Who Killed Wife, Good Samaritan At Clifton Church Wants New Trial Imprisoned Gunman Who Killed Wife, Good Samaritan At Clifton Church Wants New Trial
Imprisoned Gunman Who Killed Wife, Good Samaritan At Clifton Church Wants New Trial A convict who's 10 years into serving two life sentences for shooting and killing his wife and a congregant at a Clifton church wants New Jersey's highest court to overturn his conviction. Joseph "Sanish" Pallipurath, 40, argues in an appeal to the state Supreme Court that his attorney should have mounted an insanity defense during his trial in Superior Court in Paterson in 2011. Reshma James, 24, had been trying to flee an abusive arranged marriage in India that continued after Pallipurath brought her back with him to California, prosecutors said at the time. James obtained a r…

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by Jerry DeMarco