Judge Accepts Insanity Plea For Man Who Dismembered Father

AUGUSTA, Maine - A Maine judge has accepted a plea agreement in which a man who dismembered his father will be committed to a psychiatric center for treatment.
 
Leroy Smith III, the first detainee to be forcibly medicated under a state law, entered a plea that he was not criminally responsible to a reduced charge of manslaughter on Monday under an agreement reached between prosecutors and the defense before the start of his trial.
 
Justice Michaela Murphy accepted the plea and dismissed jurors.
 
Smith was charged with killing his father in Gardiner, Maine. He told investigators he acted in self-defense because he believed his father was poisoning his food.
 
Smith was required to take medication under a 2015 law that aims to restore the mental capacity of defendants so they can participate in their own defense.