Man accused of murder committed to Department of Mental Health
A Boone County man accused of a 2014 murder has been committed to the Department of Mental Health.
Charles T. Key entered a plea of not guilty by reason of mental disease of defect excluding responsibility, which the Boone County Prosecutor’s Office accepted. Judge Christine Carpenter ordered that Key would be committed to a Department of Mental Health facility on August 28.
Key is accused of stabbing Richard Bennett at his apartment on West Wilcott Street, north of Columbia, on May 28, 2014. Bennett allegedly told first responders that Key had stabbed him, court records show. Deputies arrested Key at Fulton State Hospital the next month, and Key faced charges of second-degree murder and armed criminal action.
The plea puts an end to the three-year-old case, assistant prosecutor Cassandra Rogers told ABC 17 News. Both parties held a hearing in front of Judge Carpenter in January, in which Key’s attorney laid out evidence that he suffered from a mental disease or defect.
Under state law, “a person is not responsible for criminal conduct if, at the time of such conduct, as a result of mental disease or defect such person was incapable of knowing and appreciating the nature, quality, or wrongfulness of such person’s conduct.”
Key faces tougher rules to obtain release from the DMH facility due to the nature of the crime. State law allows either the person or the facility director to ask the court for release, but Key must prove other conditions because of the second-degree murder charge. He must prove that he will not commit another violent crime because of his mental illness or defect and that he “possesses the capacity to appreciate the criminality of the violent crime against another person.”
