(COLORADO SPRINGS) — A man who killed an Air Force veteran at his home in the Falcon neighborhood, is now trying to request his release.
The family of the victim is outraged, now calling on the community to show up to the murderer’s hearing at 9:00 a.m. on Friday at the El Paso County Courthouse to oppose this request.
Timothy Hagins, a schizophrenic convicted murderer, is now trying to be released from the Colorado Mental Health Institute Pueblo where he was sentenced after he killed El Paso County Air Force veteran David Stechman seven years ago.
At the time of the killing, Hagins turned violent after going off his medications, which is why the judge found him to be “not guilty by reason of insanity.” He is now serving an indefinite commitment at the institution, where patients may petition for release at any time.
“The right of an individual to seek release from a mental institution is there because the person wasn’t convicted of a crime. They were found not guilty of the crime. It was their mental capacity that was the cause,” explains Pat Mika, a criminal defense attorney in Colorado Springs.
In order to be released from a mental institution, a person has to prove that their sanity has been restored. Hagins thinks he is back in his right mind, and according to court documents, he requested a release examination.
“A licensed medical doctor who specializes in mental health disorders will review his mental health status and determine whether he’s restored to sanity, and no longer a danger to the community or to himself,” said Mika.
Family members of Stechman are outraged that their father’s killer could be let off the hook.
“This man does not deserve time off or any of the freedoms that normal citizens enjoy. The fact that this request is even possible absolutely baffles me,” said Stechman’s foster daughter, Cheryl Anderson.
In August of 2016, Hagins randomly went into the Stechman’s home one afternoon and murdered Stechman by strangling and stabbing him with various utensils including a wooden spatula and an ice scraper.
“My mom Janis came home to find her husband dead in a pool of blood on the kitchen floor,” Anderson said describing what that day was like for the family. “They [her parents] had been planning to retire soon and just enjoy the rest of their life together. but all of that ended in one tragic moment.”
Legal experts say this is not a decision the court will take lightly, especially because of the nature of this crime.
