Colorado Cannibal: Push for ‘Guilty But Insane’

Feb. 9, 2004
By ERIN SMITH
THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN

Photo: Carolyn Blanton has been receiving treatment for her mental illness since 1995, when she was found not guilty by reason of insanity in the death of Alamosa artist Peter Michael Green.

ALAMOSA - Cathy Mullens has a hard time dealing with the fact that confessed cannibal Carolyn Blanton could soon be leaving state custody.

Mullens, former district attorney here and now a prosecutor in Walsenburg, is calling on state lawmakers to change the way Colorado handles criminal defendants who are deemed insane.

If Blanton, now 50, had not been found innocent by reason of insanity, she might have been sentenced to life in prison or given the death penalty for her actions, Mullens said.

Instead, Blanton is a patient at the Colorado Mental Health Institute at Pueblo, where she has been institutionalized since 1994 for the slaying of Alamosa artist Peter Michael Green.

Green, 51, was last seen alive on Nov. 11, 1993. His mutilated body, shot several times, was found at his home by friends in January 1994.

Two days later, Green's severed legs were found in a dumpster near Blanton's apartment. Contents of a cooking pot at the woman's apartment tested positive for human remains.

In 1995, Blanton, who had a long history of mental illness, was found innocent by reason of insanity in Green’s death. Then-District Court Judge Robert Ogburn ordered her confined to the state hospital.

Mullens was Alamosa district attorney when Blanton was prosecuted. At the time, Mullens said Blanton was “a very damaged person, one who probably will always have severe mental problems."

"I don't believe from her history and from my conversations with psychiatrists concerning this case that she will be walking our streets again, but there is that possibility."

She was promised at the time that the district attorney's office would be informed of any developments in Blanton's status at the hospital. “We will continue to question whether she is a threat to the community and oppose her release," she said.

Her words were prophetic. Last October, state hospital officials asked that Blanton be released from custody, contending that she had made great strides in the treatment of her mental illness.

Mullens was out of office by that time, but her successor, District Attorney Peter Comar, immediately objected to Blanton’s release and the matter is now before District Court Judge Pattie Swift.

Blanton, who legally changed her name to Jane Lynn Woodry, wants to live in Pueblo if she is released.

Mullens said she has followed Blanton's case carefully over the years.

"Blanton’s case was my case, and I’ve always followed every one of her visitations and restrictions - it really concerns me," said Mullens. She now prosecutes cases in the Third Judicial District.

Problem with law

Mullens said the Blanton case illustrates a basic problem in the criminal law dealing with mentally ill defendants. Currently, if a defendant pleads not guilty by reason of insanity and the court agrees, the person eventually can be released from treatment.

Mullens said the law should be changed to allow a plea of "guilty but insane" or "guilty but mentally ill." That way, if the defendant ever is stabilized, he or she might still be punished by imprisonment. Mullens said she would not allow the death penalty in such cases, if she were writing the law.

Thirteen states have adopted a "guilty but insane" plea. And there are five states, including Colorado’s neighbor New Mexico, that don’t allow an insanity plea.

"Guilty but mentally ill is a plea of admission and excuse. It amounts to a person not saying he didn’t kill but allows for reasons why," Mullens said.

Insanity is a longstanding legal and psychiatric defense.

A better procedure would be for a defendant to enter a plea of guilty but mentally ill, go to trial, be sentenced and receive mental treatment if it is warranted, she said.

"In Blanton’s case the state hospital says if she takes her (medication) and visits the hospital, she’ll be all right. They want her to be out there in society and they say she is ready,” Mullens said. “My concern is from the justice standpoint. She has not paid for her crime.

“We don’t know that she won’t quit taking her medication, like a lot of people. She might decompensate and commit another heinous crime," Mullens said.

If she had been found guilty but insane, Blanton would be facing a prison sentence, rather than a reintroduction into society, upon her release from treatment.

"I think that is more just, but I am a prosecutor and have great biases," Mullens said.

A 1996 Pueblo case raised similar issues when a young man was accused of killing two priests after going off medication prescribed to control his mental illness.

Douglas Comiskey of Pueblo was sent to the state mental hospital after he was found innocent by reason of insanity in the stabbing deaths of the Revs. Tom Scheets and Louis Stovik in the rectory of St. Leander Parish.

Comiskey, now 27, had been diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic and had not been taking his medication when he killed the priests. CMHIP has indicated that Comiskey had responded to his treatment and should be allowed more freedom.

Steve Schoenmakers, CMHIP superintendent, did not return a call for this article.

Barbara Zollars, Blanton's public defender, is against Mullens’ proposal.

"We don’t punish children under 10. Why punish mentally ill people?" Zollars responded.

She pointed out that the criminal justice system is based upon intent and a culpable mental state.

Guilty but insane makes a defendant responsible for his or her actions although psychotic, the defense lawyer said.

Zollars said she likes the system the way it is, and adds that it's "very hard to get not guilty by reason of insanity." She said she has succeeded in getting those verdicts just four times in her 17 years as a public defender.

Political aspirations?

Zollars added that she thinks Mullens’ action might have to do with political aspirations. "I’ve heard rumors that she’s thinking about running for DA (against Comar)."

Mullens would not rule out a run for district attorney in the San Luis Valley, which would require her to move back here.

"I will not confirm or deny (the rumor). I always have viewed the San Luis Valley as home. People have approached me to run but I have not made a decision," Mullens said Thursday.

Colorado Deputy Attorney General Ken Lane said Mullens’ suggestion for changing the insanity-plea system has been "kicked around" for a long time and a legislative task force is looking at the issue.

"From the attorney general’s standpoint, it makes sense,” Lane said. “It would better reflect reality. It needs to be explored."

Mullens said, "I would like people to think about this and let their state legislator know. If there is enough interest in changing the law, the legislature will change it.

"I was concerned about the plea 10 years ago and asked the people at the state hospital how long she would be there. They said it would be indeterminate, that they thought in a case like this (where) cannibalism is involved, usually people like this never get out," Mullens said.

Mullens said she knows of other cases in the area that would be assisted by such a plea and pointed to the 2002 homicide of former Walsenburg Mayor George Turner.

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