Va. man guilty of murder in roommate's strangling death
FREDERICKBURG, Va. -- A jury has rejected a Virginia man's claim that he was insane when he strangled a fellow university student last year, finding him guilty of murder, reports CBS affiliate WUSA.
Steven Vander Briel's trial began Monday in Fredericksburg. The 31-year-old is charged with murder in the April 2015 death of 20-year-old Grace Mann.
Briel is accused of tying up and killing Mann a few months after moving into an off-campus house with her and two other female University of Mary Washington students. The housemates testified at a hearing last year that Briel told them he and Mann had a physical confrontation before he fled their house.
The housemates said they found Mann with a plastic bag over her head and plastic bags stuffed in her mouth.
A psychiatrist who testified for the defense, Eileen Ryan, said Briel was delusional at the time of the murder and believed that Mann was trying to kill him, the station reports.
Ryan reportedly said Briel believed an "organization" "had tasked Mann to kill him. He believed thew woman had been poisoning him with gas and putting something in his peanut butter."
The prosecution countered that Briel knew right from wrong when he killed the woman, presenting a 15-minute jailhouse phone call from Briel to his parents that occurred two weeks after the killing in which he sounded coherent.
The jury agreed, recommending Briel be sentenced to life in prison plus 11 years for killing Mann, the station reports.
In an emotional statement after the verdict, Grace Mann's father,Thomas Mann, said it's been agonizing to know his daughter's last moments were filled with fear and horror. Her mother Melissa Mann said she is grateful the last words she said to her daughter were "I love you.'