Jasen Weigman, the Westminster man found guilty of sexually assaulting a 7-year-old boy in the bathroom of a Ruby Tuesday restaurant, should not be held criminally responsible because he heard voices telling him to attack the boy, a defense witness testified Monday.
“When he went to the bathroom, he said the voices started saying things like, ?Look for kids. Look for kids. You?ve got the chance,? ” said Neil Blumberg, a Towson psychiatrist.
Carroll Circuit Court Judge Thomas Stansfield found Weigman, 25, guilty of second- and third-degree sexual assault after Weigman admitted to forcing the boy into the handicapped stall at the restaurant in April 2006, told him to take off his clothes, performed oral sex and threatened to hurt him.
The boy had identified Weigman, and a DNA analysis linked Weigman to the crime. But because of his mental state, Weigman could not control his actions and is not criminally responsible, argued his attorney, public defender Judson Larrimore.
If found not criminally responsible, Weigman could be sentenced to a mental institution rather than prison.
Weigman?s uncle physically and sexually abused him from the ages of 4 to 13, forcing him to wear women?s clothing, put on diapers and have sex, Larrimore said. Larrimore said Weigman suffered schizoaffective disorder, which causes him to act psychotically, along with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Weigman knew what he was doing was wrong but couldn?t help himself, Blumberg said. But Erik Roskes, director of forensic treatment at Springfield Hospital, the state-licensed mental institution in Sykesville, testified that Weigman was responsible because he was misinterpreting his thoughts for voices.
“This is an urge that he has that?s hard for him to resist that comes across to him as a voice,” Roskes said. “He had this urge, he had this impulse. He resisted until the opportunity.”
