Was California man who killed parents, housekeeper insane? Jury to decide that next

"Jurors who just convicted a 34-year-old man of bludgeoning and stabbing his parents and a longtime housekeeper to death inside their home in a gated Newport Beach community will now have to decide whether the defendant was legally insane at the time of the slayings. The sanity phase of Camden Burton Nicholson's special circumstances murder trial began on Thursday, Oct. 23 and will ultimately determine whether Nicholson will spend the rest of his life in state prison,"

"As the trial shifts into the sanity phase, the burden of proof moves from the prosecution to the defense. To find Nicholson not guilty by reason of insanity, the jury would need to determine that he was suffering from a mental disease or defect, that he did not understand the nature or quality of his deadly actions and that he did not understand that those actions were legally or morally wrong, Nicholson's attorney, Richard Cheung of the Orange County Public Defender's Office, told jurors."

"The first part of the trial was thinking about what happened, this part is about why, Cheung explained to jurors during his opening statements in the sanity phase. Nicholson's mental health issues first surfaced when he was taking part in missionary service in Florida as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Nicholson was later forced to drop out of college and move back in with his parents."

A jury convicted Camden Burton Nicholson of killing his parents and a longtime housekeeper in Newport Beach and now must decide legal insanity during a separate sanity phase. The sanity phase will determine whether Nicholson receives life in prison or indefinite commitment to a state mental health facility. The burden of proof shifts to the defense to prove insanity by showing a mental disease or defect and lack of understanding of the nature or wrongfulness of the acts. Court testimony described prior mental health issues, medication cessation, and a reported manic episode and disappearance in December 2018.

Read at www.ocregister.com