A man was convicted of first-degree murder Friday for stabbing to death a social worker who had come to his home to make sure he was taking his medication.
Andrew Ellmaker, 20, also was convicted of aggravated battery for injuring his mother, Sue, during the attack in 2004.
Teri Lea Zenner, 26, worked for the Johnson County Mental Health Center. She was conducting a home visit when Ellmaker lured her to a bedroom and stabbed her with a knife as his mother begged for him to release the woman. Zenner also was nearly decapitated with a chain saw.
Defense attorneys called no witnesses of their own and asked jurors to convict Ellmaker of second-degree murder, saying he was incapable of planning the slaying. Ellmaker had schizotypal, a personality disorder, but his attorneys decided not to use their client's mental illness as a defense.
=======
more at link. http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2007May18/0,4670,SocialWorkerKilled,00.html
Andrew Ellmaker, 20, also was convicted of aggravated battery for injuring his mother, Sue, during the attack in 2004.
Teri Lea Zenner, 26, worked for the Johnson County Mental Health Center. She was conducting a home visit when Ellmaker lured her to a bedroom and stabbed her with a knife as his mother begged for him to release the woman. Zenner also was nearly decapitated with a chain saw.
Defense attorneys called no witnesses of their own and asked jurors to convict Ellmaker of second-degree murder, saying he was incapable of planning the slaying. Ellmaker had schizotypal, a personality disorder, but his attorneys decided not to use their client's mental illness as a defense.
=======
more at link. http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2007May18/0,4670,SocialWorkerKilled,00.html