Man Accused In Michigan Amtrak Stabbing Not Guilty Due To Insanity
NILES, Mich. (WWJ/AP) - A 45-year-old man accused of stabbing four people on an Amtrak train in southwestern Michigan has been found not guilty by reason of insanity.
Michael D. Williams of Saginaw, was awaiting trial, but the Berrien County prosecutor's office says he entered the plea and the finding was made Wednesday by Berrien County Judge Dennis Wiley.
Williams is expected to be evaluated for more mental health treatment.
Family members have said the Saginaw man struggled with delusions and paranoia.
Investigators say Williams on Dec. 5, 2014, stabbed a conductor and three other people when the train stopped in Niles, about 10 miles north of South Bend, Indiana, and about 100 miles east of Chicago.
Police rushed to the train and subdued Williams with a stun gun.
He later told detectives that the "guy he was talking to on the train turned into a demon and he had to fight" him, according to court documents.
The train, with 172 passengers, began in Chicago and was bound for Port Huron.
All four of the stabbing victims survived.
Williams' sister told The Saginaw News her brother, who is a military veteran, seemed to be hallucinating in the says prior to the incident and she'd feared for his life as he tried to get to Saginaw.
"Whatever he believed in his head was real to him," she said. "Nothing I could have said could make him think any different."
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