Man who used samurai sword to kill 'sweet, innocent' mom found not guilty by reason of insanity
An Alabama man charged with murdering his mother and attacking his uncle and brother with a samurai sword has been acquitted by reason of insanity.
lawandcrime.com
An Alabama man charged with the murder of his mother and attacking his uncle and brother with a samurai sword has been acquitted by reason of insanity.
A judge declared Damien Winslow Washam, 25, not guilty by reason of insanity after multiple mental evaluations in the custody of the Alabama Department of Mental Health, Tara Zieman, communications director of the Mobile County District Attorney’s Office, told Law&Crime on Monday.
Mobile County deputies responded to a Mausap Road home in the community of Eight Mile on Jan. 16, 2022. Investigators found the defendant’s mother, Helen Nettles Washam, 61, dead from lacerations. Damien Washam’s uncle — bedridden with cerebral palsy — sustained severe lacerations to the face and was sent to the hospital in critical condition. The defendant’s brother — who has autism, according to Oxygen — had lacerations to his wrist and was treated at the scene.
But Damien Washam fled in a dark green 2000 Honda Accord, deputies said.
He refused to stop and kept heading toward Highway 158, according to the sheriff’s office. Cops in the city of Saraland stopped the vehicle with spike strips, and a Mobile County deputy tased Washam when he attempted to flee. His injuries were not life-threatening.
