Stephen Morgan to Plead Mental “Disease or Defect”

This article was written prior to the scheduled court appearance. There will be a follow-up article on Tuesday, May 4.

Stephen Morgan, who is accused of fatally shooting Johanna Justin-Jinich ’10 nearly a year ago, was scheduled to have appeared at the Middletown Superior Court this morning. The trial was last delayed in the beginning of April to allow the defense to look into a police background report on Morgan and to examine the outcome of an investigation examining his computer’s hard drive.
According to court documents filed on Thursday, his defense is based on mental “disease or defect” at the time of the shooting. Morgan lawyers plan to call two physicians who evaluated Morgan since his arrest to testify on behalf of his defense, according to an earlier court motion.