Taylor Schabusiness wasn't mentally ill when she dismembered her ex-boyfriend and scattered his body parts, Wisconsin jury finds
A Green Bay woman wasn't mentally ill when she killed and dismembered a former boyfriend and scattered his body parts at various locations, a jury found Thursday.
The same Brown County jury that deliberated less than an hour Wednesday before convicting Taylor Schabusiness, 25, of homicide, third-degree sexual abuse and mutilating a corpse in the February 2022 killing of Shad Thyrion, 24, needed less than an hour Thursday to find she didn't suffer from mental illness or defect at the time.
Brown County Circuit Judge Thomas Walsh set sentencing for Sept. 26, CBS affiliate WFRV-TV reported.
After deliberations, Taylor Schabusiness has been found responsible for the murder and dismemberment of Shad Thyrion. Phase two of the trial was to determine if she was not responsible by reason of mental disease or defect.https://t.co/cX2Zfr52dQ
— WFRV Local 5 (@WFRVLocal5) July 27, 2023
Schabusiness strangled Thyrion at the Green Bay home he shared with his mother, sexually abused him and dismembered his body, leaving parts of it throughout the house and in a vehicle, authorities said.
Thyrion's father testified that his understanding was that Schabusiness and his son were friends from middle and high school, WFRV reported. He described her as "polite."
She appeared to suffer from a range of mental issues when she was evaluated at the Brown County Jail in 2022 and 2023, said Diane Lytton, an independent psychologist who testified for the defense Thursday.
Schabusiness, who had thrown a plastic chair at Lytton during an evaluation, was a "psychotic person," the psychologist testified.
Defense attorney Christopher Froelich said Schabusiness was under a civil commitment order in April 2021 "because she was mentally ill."
Brown County Assistant District Attorney Caleb Saunders said the issue for jurors was the defendant's mental state when she committed the crime, not in 2021.
If the jury had found Schabusiness was mentally ill, she would be sent to a mental institution instead of prison.
Walsh ruled in March that Schabusiness was competent to stand trial.
In February, Schabusiness attacked her previous attorney during a hearing before a deputy wrestled her to the courtroom floor.
During the trial, the prosecution showed a photo of Schabusiness lying next to her phone, showing a photo of Wisconsin serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, WFRV reported.
Schabusiness's father testified that her mother died in her sleep and the death took a took a toll on the family, WFRV reported. He said he sent her to Texas to live with her grandparents in 2017, the station reported.