LONGVIEW, Wash. (AP) - A woman found not guilty by reason of insanity in the 2003 stabbing death of her former boyfriend will not be getting out of the state mental hospital soon.
Daily News of Longview reports (https://is.gd/bY41O0 ) that a Cowlitz County Superior Court judge denied a motion Tuesday filed by Sonia Jolene Russo’s lawyers seeking a conditional release.
Russo admitted in her 2004 trial to killing her 41-year-old former boyfriend John Duane LaViolette. She was found not guilty by reason of insanity and was sent to Western State Hospital in Steilacoom for treatment.
Deputy county prosecutor Eric Bentson says the judge’s ruling is based on information from the prosecutor’s office and the hospital and that while Russo may feel well enough to leave, hospital staff disagreed.
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Information from: The Daily News, https://www.tdn.com
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