LOS ANGELES — A jury decided Thursday that a homeless Los Angeles woman was legally insane when she pushed an 84-year-old woman from a train platform to her death.
A jury delivered its verdict Thursday after having earlier found Jackkqueline Pogue guilty of second-degree murder.
Experts testified during the sanity phase of the trial that the defendant has been severely mentally ill for most of her life, had delusions and was hearing voices.
Pogue's lawyer said the 46-year-old woman was diagnosed as schizophrenic as a teenager and has been in and out of treatment since then. She was released from a hospital three days before the incident in a commuter rail station. Attorney Laurice Cheung said Pogue had not been taking her medication at the time and had been in custody for causing a disturbance at a social security office.
Superior Court Judge Ronald Coen set a hearing for July 8 to hear recommendations on a treatment location. Pogue will likely be committed to a mental treatment hospital to be held until her sanity is restored.
Deputy District Attorney Louis Avila had argued that Pogue was mentally ill but not insane when she pushed Betty Sugyama off a train platform onto the tracks of a commuter rail line. He argued that she understood the nature and consequences of her act which was unprovoked.
He said jurors told him they believed Pogue did not understand the nature and quality of her actions when she pushed the woman.
He said that if Pogue is eventually returned to sanity she could be released from custody. But the law requires a number of procedures before that can happen including a trial to determine that she is not a danger to others if released.
