Polmatier v. Russ

537 A.2d 468 (1988)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

D and his two-month-old daughter visited the home of Arthur Polmatier, his father-in-law. Polmatier lived in East Windsor with his wife, P, and their eleven-year-old son, Robert. During the early evening, Robert noticed a disturbance in the living room where he saw D astride Polmatier on a couch beating him on the head with a beer bottle. Robert ran to get help. D then went into Polmatier's bedroom where he took a box of 30-30 caliber ammunition from the bottom drawer of a dresser and went to his brother-in-law's bedroom where he took a 30-30 caliber Winchester rifle from the closet. D then returned to the living room and shot Polmatier twice, causing his death. D was found sitting on a stump in a wooded area a half mile from the Polmatier home. D was naked, and his daughter was in his arms wrapped in his clothes and was crying. Blood was found on his clothes, and he had the Winchester rifle, later determined to be the murder weapon. D was charged with the crime of murder. D was found not guilty by reason of insanity. D was suffering from a severe case of paranoid schizophrenia that involved delusions of persecution, grandeur, influence, and reference, and also involved auditory hallucinations. P sued D for wrongful death. D filed an answer denying all material allegations asserting that he was non compos mentis at the time of the alleged assault and, therefore, not capable of forming the intent necessary for tort liability. The court found for P and awarded compensatory damages. D appealed.