Lake County jury: Thornhill guilty of first-degree murder
TAVARES — A Lake County jury Wednesday afternoon rejected Ryan Thornhill’s claim that he was insane and didn’t know what he was doing when he killed Wilfredo Nieves in his barbershop in 2017.
It took the 12-member jury just an hour-and-a-half to decide the 40-year-old was guilty of first-degree murder instead of not-guilty by reason of insanity.
“Evidence of insanity was just not there,” said Assistant State Attorney Nicholas Camuccio.
There was plenty of evidence, however, that Thornhill was a longtime substance abuser, the prosecutor said.
From earlier this week: Jurors in Ryan Thornhill trial hear defense's arguments for insanity
More: After continuation, Thornhill's murder trial begins again four years after Mount Dora killing
The backstory: Thornhill trial continued after jury pool runs dry
Defense mental health experts noted in their reports that Thornhill quit taking his prescribed Xanax medication and a doctor changed the combination of drugs he was taking, causing a “psychotic break.”
His sister, who did not testify in the trial, described his hallucinations and delusions in a deposition, including a ‘preoccupation with darkness.”
A psychologist diagnosed him with bipolar disorder.
“Unfortunately, people with bipolar are often addicts,” Assistant Public Defender Morris Carranza told the Daily Commercial after the trial was over.
The biggest blow to his case, Carranza figured, was the testimony of rescue workers who said they smelled alcohol on his breath.
“That was the straw that broke the camel’s back,” he said.
Customers in the Giants barbershop told police Thornhill was carrying a brown bottle, staggering and talking to himself when he tried to get a haircut for only $2.
Nieves put his arm around Thornhill, escorted him out of the shop on Old Highway 441, and told him to come back when he had $10.
He came back in 15 minutes, but with a handgun he had stolen from his father, shot Nieves in the back of the head and pointed the pistol at the customers, who jumped on him to wrestle the gun away.
Lawyers tried but failed to seat a jury in August, but too many said they had seen or experienced the trauma of drug addiction and mental illness.
Last week, during jury selection, several prospective jurors described addiction as a “choice.” None of those people made it onto the jury, Camuccio said.
Circuit Judge G. Richard Singeltary will sentence Thornhill to the only punishment allowed under the law: Life without the possibility of parole.
Had he been found to be insane at the time of the crime, he would have been sent to a mental hospital until cured.
This article originally appeared on Daily Commercial: Jury rejects insanity defense and finds Thornhill guilty in murder trial
