Man acquitted in murder
A Mon Valley man was acquitted of homicide by reason of legal insanity in the 2013 murder of his wife in a rare ruling Friday from the bench in Washington County Court.
Washington County Judge John DiSalle said he agreed with psychological opinions shared by the defense and prosecution that Ronald George Powell, 73, was suffering from a long-term paranoid delusional disorder when he shot and killed his wife in their Carroll Township home.
“There’s evidence of delusional disorder way back to his teenage years,” Washington psychologist Dr. Michael Crabtree testified at a hearing leading up to the judge’s ruling.
Powell was committed to a mental institution during a closed-door civil proceeding before Judge Gary Gilman immediately after he was acquitted in the murder of his wife Leslie, said Chad Schneider, the county’s first assistant district attorney. He will be held there indefinitely unless it is determined he has overcome his mental illness.
Schneider said he doubted such an acquittal has taken place in the courthouse in many years.
Powell, who arrived at court using a walker, has been in Washington County jail since he shot his wife of 20 years in the head with a shotgun as she slept March 29, 2013. He then took a shower and made himself coffee before calling 911 to report that he had killed the 60-year-old woman.
In April, his attorney, Public Defender Glenn Alterio, filed a motion seeking an insanity defense based on two evaluations in which Powell was found to be suffering from severe mental illness.
Crabtree issued a report that concluded Powell “was laboring under such a defect of reason, from disease of the mind, as to not know what he was doing was wrong,” court documents show.
Under Pennsylvania law, if a defendant is found to be not guilty by reason of insanity, the person cannot be held legally responsible for a crime. A person must meet the definition of legal insanity, which is whether or not he knew what he was doing and that his actions were wrong.
Washington attorney Roger Ecker appeared at the hearing on behalf of Leslie Powell’s estate to discuss preventing Ronald Powell from ever profiting from her assets.
“Mrs. Powell was defenseless,” Ecker said.
DiSalle said he understood the family’s concerns after Ecker raised the possibility of Powell someday being released from custody.
“It would be a monumental travesty,” Ecker said.
Schneider said those arguments would need to be raised in a separate civil proceeding.