By Associated Press - Saturday, March 16, 2019

CLEVELAND (AP) - A judge in Cleveland has accepted a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity from a man accused of crashing into a woman’s car and fatally shooting her in 2016.

The Record-Courier reports 32-year-old Matthew Desha was ordered committed Thursday to a state-operated psychiatric facility.

Desha faced murder and other charges in the death of 53-year-old Deborah Pearl, a woman police said Desha didn’t know.

Police said Desha ran a red light in August 2016 and struck a car driven by Pearl, who was headed to work. Police said Desha got out of his SUV, which had rolled onto its roof, and shot Pearl with a military-style AR-15 carbine.

Doctors testified in court that Desha, a Marine who served two tours in Iraq, suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder.

___

Information from: Record-Courier, http://www.recordpub.com

Copyright © 2024 The Washington Times, LLC.

Please read our comment policy before commenting.

Click to Read More and View Comments

Click to Hide