The man who killed a Wesleyan co-ed and said Howard Stern was communicating secret messages to him has been ordered to serve up to 60 years in a mental institution.
After his trial in 2011, a three judge panel found Stephen Morgan not guilty by reason of insanity for killing Johanna Justin-Jinich, 21, at an off-campus bookstore café in May 2009.
At his commitment hearing, defense attorneys asked for a 45 year confinement, prosecutors asked for the maximum of 75 years and Morgan was sentenced to up to 60 years on Wednesday.
Morgan was sent to the Whiting Forensic Division of Connecticut Valley Hospital in Middletown after his trial. During the hearing, Susan McKinley, a social worker at Whiting, testified about the evaluation experts there did on Morgan after his trial.
She called Morgan psychotic, delusional, and paranoid. She also said the team feels he needs treatment in the maximum security setting that Whiting provides rather than at a lower security setting.
He is still a danger to himself and others, she said, because he does not understand that he has a mental illness, why he needs treatment, or that he will need ongoing medication. He also does not understand that his mental state led to his crime.
Justin-Jinich's mother, Dr. Ingrid Justin, submitted a letter to the panel calling for Morgan to get the maximum confinement. "We have lost not only sweet Johanna, in all her complex loveliness, but the future we would have shared together. We remain devastated and forever changed," wrote Dr. Jinich. "A maximum sentence for Morgan will help ensure that he can do no further damage."
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Michael Roth, the president of Wesleyan University, also wrote a letter to the panel saying the evidence in the case 'revealed a hate-filled fixation toward Johanna, her religion, and the Wesleyan community with frightening specificity."
"Johanna's murder forever altered the lives of her family, friends, classmates and an entire University community. We advocate the most secure and longest possible commitment for Mr. Morgan," wrote Roth.
Morgan's case will be reviewed every two years while he's at Whiting. He could be released earlier than 60 years if his condition improves and if the state Psychiatric Security Review Board allows it.
During his trial, defense attorneys told the judges that Morgan was insane when he committed the crime, and that his actions were guided by mysterious messages from radio personality Howard Stern.
A psychiatrist testified Morgan believed Justin-Jinich was hacking into his computer and watching him, and that he showed signs of paranoid schizophrenia.
Testimony and evidence at the trial suggested that Morgan became infatuated with Justin-Jinich when the two met at New York University in 2007 and harassed her in emails and phone calls.
Morgan's family cried after the verdict was read and expressed relief that Morgan will get the help they say he needs, but also expressed sorrow for Justin-Jinich's family and friends.
Justin-Jinich's family was not present for the verdict, but Dr. Daniel Jinich, the victim's father, released a statement:
"During this difficult time we were moved by the outpourings of kindness and gentleness expressed my many people in Middletown who we did not know but who in their own way reached out to us to express sympathy and compassion," Jinich said.
