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Judge rules Patrick Heltzel not guilty by reason of insanity in death of elderly man
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
Patrick L. Heltzel was suffering from schizophrenia and experiencing a series of psychotic beliefs when he killed Milton Grumbling III, 71, at Grumbling’s home on Kincaid East Road in Warren Township on April 4, 2013, a judge ruled.
On Wednesday, Judge Andrew Logan of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court said Heltzel, 23, of Atlantic Street, is not guilty by reason of insanity in the slaying of Grumbling and robbery of a Bible and Masonic ring from him.
Heltzel will remain in the county jail until his next hearing at 11 a.m. Tuesday, when a mental-health professional will advise the judge on whether Heltzel is a mentally ill person who should be confined to a state mental hospital.
It likely is to play out in a similar way to the case of Royce Honaker, 63, of Southington, who Judge Logan ruled not guilty by reason of insanity last November in the killing of Honaker’s wife, Donna. Honaker was committed to Heartland Behavioral Health Center, a state mental hospital in Massillon. Honaker will return to court in two years for another evaluation. Heltzel and Honaker could spend the rest of their lives in a mental hospital.
Judge Logan read his 14-page ruling to Heltzel, with many Heltzel and Grumbling family members present, focusing mostly on the evaluations given to the court by four mental-health professionals hired by the court and giving the most weight to one submitted by Dr. Stephen Noffsinger.
Noffsinger spent the most time with Heltzel – about 30 hours from Aug. 20, 2014, to March 23, 2015, at Heartland. Judge Logan ordered Heltzel to be placed there to restore competency to stand trial.
Heltzel returned to the county afterward to await trial. Judge Logan presided over the trial last week.
Noffsinger “identified 27 psychotic beliefs of Heltzel that were experienced by him ‘before, during and after the offense,’” Judge Logan said in his ruling.
One was that Heltzel thought he was God, and even if he were found guilty of the homicide, he would be rescued because of his “divine status,” the judge said.
Noffsinger said it was “not a close call as to whether Heltzel was aware of the wrongfulness of his actions at the time of the offense” – one of the primary standards courts must use to determine whether someone is not guilty by reason of insanity.
Judge Logan’s ruling said “those in contact with [Heltzel] closest in time to the offense described his behavior as bizarre.”
Though Heltzel had stated at various times he killed Grumbling because Grumbling was a pedophile, “there is no evidence whatsoever” to indicate that the statement was anything but a “psychotic delusion,” the judge ruled.
Heltzel placed Grumbling in a choke hold, then stabbed him repeatedly with a knife and beat him with a remote control, the judge’s ruling said.
“I think he knew what he was doing,” Mary Jane Grumbling Reeve of Warren, Milton Grumbling’s sister, said after the hearing, citing evasive action Heltzel took after the killing, such as getting rid of the knife and his clothes.
But she said she will be satisfied as long as Heltzel won’t be able to kill again.
“It’s a sad thing for both sides, but as long as he’s not out on the streets, that’s what’s important.”
She said she believes Heltzel met Grumbling at the Masonic Lodge on East Market Street near downtown and was preparing to mentor him to become part of the Order of DeMolay, the youth organization of the Freemasons. Grumbling was a Freemason for 50 years, a family member said.