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Thread: Admitted killer of 7-year-old pleads insanity

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    Senior Member *crickets*'s Avatar
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    Admitted killer of 7-year-old pleads insanity



    TUCSON, AZ--The trial of an Ajo man accused of sexually assaulting and murdering a 7-year-old girl started Tuesday with the defense attorney acknowledging his client did it. But attorney Brian Metcalf asserted Kyle Alegria was too mentally unstable to comprehend his actions.

    Alegria, who was 19 at the time, is accused of killing Rhia Almeida, a friend of his younger brother who had come to the house to play on June 18, 2009. The younger boy was not home, however, having gone on vacation with his grandparents to Disneyland, Deputy Pima County Attorney Rick Unklesbay said.

    That was the last time anyone saw the girl alive. Her badly beaten body was found in a wash just feet away from Alegria's house the next day, by two girls riding their bikes.

    "There were multiple stab wounds to her face, neck and chest," Unklesbay told the jury in his opening statement. "Multiple stab wounds to this 7-year-old girl." In addition, Rhia had multiple blunt-force traumas to her head and had been raped. "The defendant caused enormous suffering to this little girl," Unklesbay said.

    Metcalf agreed, telling the jury his client was responsible for Rhia's death, but adding Alegria was debilitated with lifelong mental illness and in a psychotic state at the time of the killing. "Kyle Alegria is guilty, but he's insane, he was insane at the time," Metcalf said.

    Metcalf described his client as an outcast fraught with depression and obsessive-compulsive behaviors. He had spent months in a residential treatment facility a few years before the killing, where he was treated for depressive disorder and put on medication. But once he left the facility, his treatment ended and he receded back into the dark world of his depression, Metcalf said.

    He described how Alegria spent days on end without leaving his bedroom at his parents' house, watching pornography and collecting his own urine in bottles. At one point, he tried to take his own life by overdosing on the medication doctors had prescribed for him. In testimony, his father said Alegria had been troubled and suicidal for much of his life. "He had been like that ever since he was born; he didn't like himself," Loretto Alegria said.

    On the night Rhia was killed, Loretto Alegria and his wife had been out of town shopping. When they came home, he testified, Kyle Alegria was cleaning the house. His father said the behavior was out of character for his son. He described how the house smelled of bleach and his son had changed the sheets in his mother's bedroom. Later that night, Loretto Alegria said, his son made two trips from the house carrying plastic bags full of unknown items. Police later found the bags with evidence like bloody towels.

    Unklesbay said Kyle Alegria's attempts to conceal the girl's body in the wash and cleaning the crime scene and disposing of evidence makes it clear he knew what he did was wrong.

    Throughout the trial's first day, Kyle Alegria sat motionless, slumped over with his elbows on his knees. He rarely looked up from the floor and opted to forgo his right to wear street clothes during the trial, instead wearing the orange uniform of a jail inmate. His attorneys argued Alegria has a death wish and wants the jury to sentence him to death. He is charged with first-degree murder, kidnapping and sexual conduct with a minor under the age of 15. His trial continues today in Pima County Superior Court Judge Deborah Bernini's courtroom.
    Insanity? Really? After cleaning up the crime scene? Don't think that's going to fly, sorry..

    Also, depression and/or OCD does not=psychosis.
    Last edited by *crickets*; 10-17-2013 at 05:44 PM.

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    Senior Member blighted star's Avatar
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    Sorry if this turns out a mess, I'm still using the kids screwy game tablet. Looks like the judge had similar concerns about his mental condition & reasoning 2 yrs ago. In his case at least it probably isn't the usual ruse for a lesser sentence


    http://azstarnet.com/news/local/crim...b776b3e0b.html

    February 25, 2011 12:00 am *?* Kim Smith Arizona Daily Star
    An Ajo man facing a potential death sentence in the rape and murder of a 7-year-old girl rejected a plea agreement Thursday morning, saying he deserves to die.

    Loretto "Kyle" Alegria, 21, is scheduled to go to trial in April on rape, kidnapping and first-degree murder charges in the death of Rhia Almeida in June 2009.

    In Pima County Superior Court, Judge Deborah Bernini scheduled a change-of-plea hearing after being told Alegria was willing to plead guilty and spend the rest of his life in prison.

    In the end, however, Alegria told Bernini he was not going to sign the agreement.

    Bernini spent close to 30 minutes coaxing Alegria to tell her why he didn't want to sign it, and then, upon learning his reason, urging him to sign it anyway.

    "I need to understand why you are going forward with a lengthy trial with dozens and dozens of witnesses, rather than today having some control over how all of this ends," Bernini told Alegria.

    She was aware the plea called for him to get a life sentence, Bernini said.

    "Are you trying to make things worse for yourself?" Bernini asked.

    Alegria often wouldn't answer Bernini's questions or would just shake his head.

    He indicated he understood what Bernini was saying, knows he has caused a lot of people pain and he's sorry, but insisted he wasn't going to sign the agreement.

    It was only after Bernini asked him if he was hesitating because he would be required to discuss what he did, that Alegria divulged his reason for not moving forward.

    "I don't deserve to live," Alegria said. "I deserve the max."

    Bernini said she disagreed, but she offered to amend the plea agreement so Alegria could plead guilty but go through a normal aggravation/mitigation sentencing phase with death being an option. He indicated he didn't want to do that either.

    She urged Alegria to consider that if he insists on going to trial, he will be putting the victim's family, his parents and his 10-year-old brother through a six-week ordeal that might not end with the result he wants - death.

    "This is the only gift you can offer this family," Bernini said of the plea agreement.

    Alegria said he was sorry.

    "Tell me what you're sorry for," Bernini said.

    "For being alive," Alegria said.

    "Don't you think life in prison is punishment enough?" Bernini asked.

    Alegria shook his head no.

    When Alegria begged Bernini not to "drag out" the hearing any longer, Bernini reminded him that his trial will "drag out" for six weeks.

    Alegria again insisted he wasn't going to sign the agreement, and as he was led from the courtroom, his family and the victim's family began crying harder.

    Rhia was beaten and stabbed to death when she went to visit Alegria's little brother to play, authorities say.

    Her body was found in a wash behind Alegria's home by two girls riding their bicycles two hours after Rhia left home.

    Assistant Pima County Public Defender Darlene Edminson-O'Brien and co-counsel Walter Palser declined to comment after the hearing.

    Before the hearing, the judge barred The Arizona Daily Star from photographing Alegria. She agreed with defense attorneys, who argued Alegria's safety might be compromised at the Arizona Department of Corrections if his image becomes known. They also said a camera might inhibit his ability to talk about his actions the day Rhia died, something he was required to do as part of the plea agreement.

    Edminson-O'Brien described Alegria's mental status as "fragile," noting he has spent most of the last two years in the jail's mental-health unit.

    Last month, the defense attorneys indicated they wanted Alegria to undergo testing to see if he is mentally retarded and therefore ineligible for the death penalty.

    Deputy Pima County Attorney Susan Eazer said Alegria was offered a plea agreement in part because it's unclear what the results of those tests might be. In addition, a plea agreement would offer "finality and closure" to Rhia's family, especially since defendants waive their right to an appeal when they enter plea agreements.
    Last edited by blighted star; 10-16-2013 at 04:10 PM.

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    Superomnininjamember Monter's Avatar
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    Not to nitpick, but it describes depression and obsessive-compulsive behaviors.
    That could encompass so many diagnoses, including schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders.
    Not saying it lets him off the hook but I dont think they are saying he has garden variety depression/anxiety.
    Bottles of urine and total isolation speak to some kind of thought disorder
    You're entitled to your own opinions. You're not entitled to your own facts.- D. Moynihan
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    Senior Member *crickets*'s Avatar
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    Oh he has some sort of mental illness for sure, but legally, insanity (I think) means not knowing the difference between right and wrong, and this guy changed the sheets, cleaned up the blood with bleach, put the evidence in trash bags and took it out to be picked up with the regular trash. That's some pretty sane behavior and orderly thought processes.

    IMO he's just a garden-variety pedophile, like Austin Sigg, Tyler Holder et. al. His attorneys don't have many options and they're boxed in...he was going to plead guilty but changed his mind, so now they, and the little girl's poor family, and the AZ taxpayers are all stuck with a big ole trial.

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    Superomnininjamember Monter's Avatar
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    Insanity defenses are variations on the M'Naughton rule - there is some room , depending on the state and their definition- to wiggle.
    If I kill a man and clean it up because I am under the delusion that the dude's head was a tomato and I was making a salad, that would qualify legally as insane.
    You're entitled to your own opinions. You're not entitled to your own facts.- D. Moynihan
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    Senior Member *crickets*'s Avatar
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    That makes sense I guess...like if the voices in your head command you to drown your children or they'll go to hell like Andrea Yates. I just doubt that was the case with this guy, from what I've read anyway..

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    If the guy had a history of previous episodes of psychosis due to depressive disorder, it adds validity to the claims that he was psychotic during the killing.

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    Senior Member sweetleftpeg's Avatar
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    As has been said, the clean up was pretty calculated. Where do you draw the lines of insanity? I mean, to you and me, anyone who rapes and murders a 7 year old is pretty insane.

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    Senior Member *crickets*'s Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by sweetleftpeg View Post
    As has been said, the clean up was pretty calculated. Where do you draw the lines of insanity? I mean, to you and me, anyone who rapes and murders a 7 year old is pretty insane.
    Not necessarily...see: Austin Sigg (Jessica Ridgeway), Tyler Holder (Alanna Gallagher) and Justin DeRyke (Willow Long). All three started with watching prn and escalated to raping and murdering a little girl. In DeRyke's case it was his niece. None of them were 'insane,' just plain old pedophiles. Sigg just pleaded guilty recently, just before his trial was scheduled to start.

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    Senior Member *crickets*'s Avatar
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    GUILTY!
    A Jury in Pima County Superior Court has found Kyle Alegria guilty of the 2009 rape and murder of his 7-year-old neighbor.

    The jury in Judge Deborah Bernini's courtroom found Alegria guilty of first-degree murder, kidnapping and sexual contact with a minor under the age of 15 after hearing eight days of testimony.

    Lawyers for Alegria, Brian Metcalf and Donald Klein, argued their client was guilty of the crimes but insane. A psychiatrist who examined Alegria for the defense testified the he suffered with severe depression for many years. San Francisco-based Dr. Pablo Stewart said Alegria's depression at times left him nearly debilitated, suicidal and psychotic.

    Deputy Pima County Attorney Rick Unklesbay disputed the doctor?s assessment, noting Pima County jail staff reported Alegria feigned suicidal ideations to avoid having to share a cell. Unklesbay also pressed the doctor whether a suicidal and psychotic person would endeavor to dispose of a corpse and hide evidence of a crime in the manner Alegria did after the killing. Stewart said Alegria?s evasive behaviors didn't necessarily mean he was cognizant that he'd done something wrong.

    Following the verdict on Thursday, in which the jury split on whether the first-degree murder was premeditated or felony murder, the sides argued before the jury about aggravating factors of the charge. The jury found in favor of the prosecution, deciding that the crime was especially cruel and caused the victim pain and suffering, and the crime was done in an especially heinous or depraved manner.

    The jury next has to determine mitigating factors of the first-degree murder conviction beginning Friday. The defense plans to bring in additional witnesses for this phase, which could run well into next week.

    Following that, the sentencing phase of the trial begins, where Alegria faces the death penalty.
    They deliberated less than a day and totally didn't buy the 'insanity' BS. Good for them! Next is the mitigation phase where they'll hear about why the poor depressed guy should be spared the DP...
    Last edited by *crickets*; 10-24-2013 at 06:48 PM.

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