ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, February 26, 1997 TAG: 9702260081
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: MEDIA, PA.
SOURCE: Associated Press
THE CHEMICAL FORTUNE HEIR likely will spend time in a mental hospital and go to prison only if he is deemed cured.
A jury decided Tuesday that multimillionaire John E. du Pont was a murderer but spared him a life in prison, agreeing that mental illness played a role in his fatal shooting of an Olympic wrestler.
Du Pont was convicted of third-degree murder, but also was found mentally ill in the Jan. 26, 1996, shooting of David Schultz. The verdict means the chemical fortune heir likely will spend time in a mental hospital and go to prison only if he is deemed cured.
Third-degree murder, or murder without premeditation, carries a maximum penalty of 20 to 40 years in prison, but du Pont could be free on parole after as little as five years.
Du Pont, appearing in court with long, greasy, gray hair and a scraggly beard, stared dispassionately ahead when the verdict was read. His attorneys embraced.
``It could have been a lot worse,'' defense attorney Thomas Bergstrom said. ``I think they came to a result we can live with.''
Schultz's father, Phillip, said the jury apparently compromised, ``but I think he's going to be spending his life in prison, one way or another, metaphorically or in truth.''
District Attorney Patrick Meehan noted that cynics had predicted du Pont ``would use his enormous financial resources to ensure that he never stood trial at all.''
The guilty verdict ``is a vindication for the criminal justice system, which holds all people equal before the law,'' Meehan said. ``He can now get some of the mental treatment he needs, and that's just.''
Jurors, who have been sequestered for a week, declined to comment.
Both sides agreed that du Pont, 58, was mentally ill when he shot Schultz, 36, outside the wrestler's home on du Pont's suburban Philadelphia estate, Foxcatcher Farm.
But prosecutors said his illness stopped short of legal insanity, and said du Pont killed Schultz because he was jealous of the respect the 1984 Olympic gold medalist commanded in the wrestling world.
Defense lawyers said du Pont was a paranoid schizophrenic who fancied himself as the Dalai Lama, the Christ Child and other grandiose figures and believed Schultz was part of an international conspiracy to kill him. They said he could not tell right from wrong when he shot Schultz three times in his driveway, the third time in the back while Schultz's wife watched.
Jurors had the choice of acquitting him by reason of insanity, finding him guilty but mentally ill, or finding him guilty of first-degree murder, third-degree murder or voluntary manslaughter.
Judge Patricia Jenkins will hold a hearing to determine if du Pont should spend further time in a mental hospital.
LENGTH: Medium: 62 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. John du Pont is wheeled out of the courthouseby CNBTuesday after being found guilty of third-degree murder, but
mentally ill. color.