Killer’s successful insanity defense prompts call for changing Okla. law

Published 12:30 pm Monday, July 20, 2015

SHAWNEE, Okla. — Generro Sanchez always saw the good in everybody.

That trait led Sanchez, an 18-year-old freshman at East Central University in Ada, Oklahoma, to give his fellow student, Jerrod Murray, a ride to Wal-Mart in exchange for gas money in December of 2012.

Once inside the vehicle, Murray pulled out a gun and forced Sanchez to drive five miles north of Asher, Oklahoma.

While Sanchez was driving and begging Murray to spare his life, Murray shot him twice in the head. After the vehicle crashed into a tree, Murray pulled Sanchez out and shot him again in the head. Murray then pushed the body into a ditch and covered it with leaves and sticks.

When Murray was arrested near the scene, he told authorities he wanted to know what killing someone felt like.

Murray, who turned 21 Monday, was found not guilty by reason of insanity late Friday afternoon. Pottawatomie County District Court Judge John Canavan Jr. based his ruling on reports from prosecution and defense experts, who agreed that Murray did not know right from wrong at the time of the shooting.

Canavan said he was bound to follow the law, whether he liked it or not.

“I empathize with you, and I just wish there was something else I could do,” he told Sanchez’s family.

Murray will be sent to the Oklahoma Forensic Center, a mental hospital in Vinita, where experts will evaluate him to determine how dangerous he is to others. He will remain at the hospital until Aug. 26, when he will return to court for a hearing on that issue.

Following that hearing, Canavan will likely order Murray to undergo treatment in Vinita, said Pottawatomie County District Attorney Richard Smothermon.

Smothermon said he hoped Murray’s case would prompt lawmakers to change the law concerning insanity defenses. He said the law should allow judges to find mentally ill defendants guilty but insane, then order treatment for the same amount of time that a sane defendant would spend in prison for the same crime.

Smothermon said he did not think the issue was on lawmakers’ radar, but he hoped they would start thinking about it.

“If ever a case demanded the attention of the Legislature, this is it,” Smothermon said after the verdict was given. “Because what happened in that courtroom a minute ago reeks of injustice.”

Sanchez’s mother, Jeana West, also said she hoped lawmakers would consider overhauling the law.

“I want something to be changed,” West said. “And the only way to do it is for the lawmakers to put themselves in my shoes and think if that was their child, how would they have felt hearing the judge say, ‘I’m sorry, but there’s nothing that I can do but go by the letter of the law.’”

Under Oklahoma law, defendants are considered not guilty by reason of insanity if they were unable to tell right from wrong at the time of the crime and if they do not understand the nature and consequences of their actions.

Such cases are extremely rare in Oklahoma, said Jason Christopher, an Ada criminal defense attorney who was not involved in this case. He added that medical experts must weigh all elements of a defendant’s background, then decide whether the evidence supports an insanity finding.

“The important thing for people to remember is that a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity does not mean the defendant is getting off scot-free,” Christopher said.

According to Christopher, a judge will decide, with the advice of mental health professionals, how long defendants will remain in custody and whether they will ever be released.

Sanchez’s favorite quote was “You couldn’t have awesome without ‘me,’” West said. She described her son as an intelligent young man who enjoyed music, video games and workouts.

A graduate of Stuart High School, Sanchez planned to study civil engineering at ECU because he thought that would be his ticket out of Oklahoma after college, West said. He and Murray were classmates who lived in Pesagi Residence Hall on campus.

In the fall of 2012, Sanchez witnessed a fight between Murray and another student. When Sanchez went home before Thanksgiving, he told his mother about the fight — including the fact that police were called to the scene.

West said people have asked her why Sanchez gave Murray a ride the day of the shooting.

“I said, ‘Because my son saw the good in everybody,’” West said. “When Jerrod asked for the ride, he saw an olive branch being extended to him. And he thought, ‘OK. Bygones are going to be bygones, and we’re going to start fresh.’”

Choking back tears, West said she sees Sanchez’s friends all the time. And when she sees them, she sees her son again for a moment.

“I have my son back through his friends,” she said. “But it is not the same thing.”

Swanson and Lewis write for The Ada (Okla.) News