Insanity plea accepted for mass shooter who killed three near Smithsburg

Julie E. Greene and Dave McMillion, The Herald-Mail
·4 min read
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During an emotionally-charged hearing Tuesday, a Washington County Circuit Court judge declared the West Virginia man who shot and killed three co-workers near Smithsburg last June, and tried to kill three others including two state troopers, to be not criminally responsible due to a mental disorder.

Judge Brett R. Wilson ordered Joe Louis Esquivel, 24, of Hedgesville, W.Va., to be taken to the Washington County Detention Center while the Maryland Department of Health can prepare the paperwork to transfer him to a state mental-health institution.

Wilson said that institution would likely be Clifton T. Perkins Hospital Center, a maximum-security forensic psychiatric hospital in Howard County.

Crosses hang from a chain link fence outside the Columbia Machine, Inc. building where there workers were killed in a mass shooting in June of 2022.
Crosses hang from a chain link fence outside the Columbia Machine, Inc. building where there workers were killed in a mass shooting in June of 2022.

Esquivel suffers from schizophrenia, according to a state Health Department assessment performed on him after the June 9 shooting. Assistant State's Attorney Christopher McCormack relayed the results of the report during the hearing Tuesday morning.

Schizophrenia is a major mental disorder in which people may experience a distorted reality and hallucinations.

Wilson confirmed what the family members of the deceased victims, at least one surviving gunshot victim and others were told April 5 by the prosecuting team — that Esquivel's insanity defense would be accepted and he will not be sentenced to state prison.

Due to press deadlines, more details from the hearing will be available online at www.heraldmailmedia.com and in Thursday's newspaper.

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Esquivel faced 34 charges in the mass shooting at Columbia Machine off Bikle Road on June 9 and the ensuing shootout with police after he fled in his car.

The charges included three counts of first-degree murder for the shooting deaths of Mark Alan Frey, 50, of Waynesboro, Pa.; Charles "C.J." Edward Minnick Jr., 31, of Smithsburg; and Joshua "Josh" Robert Wallace, 30, of the Hagerstown area.

The attempted murder charges were for shooting co-worker Brandon Chase Michael, then 42, and — during the shootout — Maryland State Police Detective Sgt. Phil Martin. The third attempted murder charge was for trying to kill state police Lt. Vincent Upole, commander of the Rockville, Md., state police barrack who responded to the emergency call in an unmarked Ford Explorer.

When police confronted the fleeing Esquivel at the traffic roundabout at Mapleville and Mount Aetna roads, Esquivel drove his car head-on into Upole's SUV, according to charging documents. There also appeared to be two "gun shot strikes" to Upole's vehicle.

Intense moments as victims' families confront Esquivel

Michael, Martin, Upole and family members of Frey, Minnick and Wallace were in the downtown Hagerstown courtroom Tuesday morning.

Some of them submitted written impact statements to the court and some addressed Wilson in person during the hearing.

The hearing was intense at times as Esquivel stared straight ahead except to speak to his defense attorney.

As family members of the victims spoke angrily about the torment and hell he had put them through, they demanded he turn around and look at them in the eye.

But he never looked back.

District Public Defender Angela Oetting, at least the second public defender to have Esquivel's case, refiled pleas for him in October. They included pleas of not guilty, not competent to stand trial and not criminally responsible, the latter of which is a legal term for an insanity plea. She cited state code regarding not criminally responsible, "in that at the time of the commission of the offense alleged, the Defendant suffered from a mental disorder and lacked substantial capacity to either appreciate the criminality of his conduct or to conform his conduct to the requirements of law."

While state police medical personnel were treating Esquivel after the June 9 shootout, Esquivel allegedly asked to be killed, charging documents state. Later, he allegedly told investigators he shot at police to get them to kill him.

If Esquivel is one day found to no longer be a danger to himself or others, he could be released without serving time in state prison.

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Family members of Frey and Wallace told The Herald-Mail last month that they wanted Esquivel to get mental-health treatment, but that he also should get prison time rather than the possibility of being released some day.

Esquivel has spent most of his time, since the shootings, at the Washington County Detention Center.

Capt. Edward Long, assistant warden for the local detention center, said recently that Esquivel has been held in protective custody status, meaning he has his own cell to keep him and others safe and secure.

Wilson had signed off on Esquivel being transported to Perkins or another facility for mental health evaluations to determine if he was competent to stand trial and whether he was not criminally responsible.

The maximum penalty for one count of first-degree murder alone would have been life without the possibility of parole.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Smithsburg, MD mass shooting: WV man ordered to psychiatric hospital