Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 10, 1994 TAG: 9402100159
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
O'Neil had claimed that post-traumatic stress disorder from his combat service made him go insane, many years later, the night he shot his brother-in-law 12 times.
But a jury in Roanoke Circuit Court rejected that defense Wednesday night, convicting O'Neil of voluntary manslaughter and use of a firearm and setting his punishment at 10 years in prison.
By his own admission, O'Neil used two handguns to shoot his sister's husband, Joseph Turner Davis Jr., during an argument the night of March 2 at a Woodcrest Road home they all shared.
In what was believed to be the first use of post-traumatic stress disorder as a defense to a murder charge in Roanoke, a psychiatrist testified that the confrontation caused O'Neil to experience a flashback to his days in Vietnam.
"Mentally, he was somewhere else, trying to protect himself," Robert Showalter told the jury. The psychiatrist testified that, at the time, O'Neil was legally insane and believed "it was no more wrong to shoot Mr. Davis than it was to shoot people in a combat zone."
But the insanity theory began to unravel when O'Neil, 41, took the witness stand.
He testified that the argument started when he came home drunk and too late for dinner. O'Neil maintained he shot in self-defense after Davis, 47, pulled a steak knife on him.
Although O'Neil testified that he was troubled by his memories of Vietnam, he made no mention of that in explaining what happened the night of the killing.
"As soon as I saw that knife, it was like somebody flipped a light switch," he testified. "All I know is that I was protecting myself. I don't know if it was Vietnam or what."
To reach a conviction of voluntary manslaughter, jurors had to believe that O'Neil was acting either in the heat of passion or was involved in mutual combat.
Prosecutors had argued that it was a case of premeditated, first-degree murder, and that O'Neil's Vietnam experience was irrelevant.
"It was Joe Davis' kitchen he was in; it was not Vietnam," Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Ann Gardner told the jury in closing arguments. "It was a .22 revolver he had; it was not a machine gun."
Defense attorney Richard Lawrence, however, had argued that his client's service as a gunner on an assault helicopter had left a permanent mark.
"He was nothing more than a kid who was sent at 18 1/2 years of age to Vietnam and taught to kill," Lawrence said.
O'Neil told the jury that he still wakes up screaming from nightmares about Vietnam. He testified that his helicopter was shot down once, but said there were other experiences he did not want to talk about.
The jury reached its verdict after hearing three days of testimony and deliberating for about 5 1/2 hours.
It was the second time in three weeks that a Roanoke jury has rejected an insanity defense to a murder charge.
Although O'Neil pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, his defense took a much broader approach: that he also shot in self-defense; that he was too intoxicated to be guilty of premeditated murder; and that Davis was a violent man who had it in for O'Neil.
O'Neil, who worked as a helicopter mechanic after leaving the service, testified that Davis resented his living in the Woodcrest Road home with his sister.
"I guess it was like two dogs squaring off to face each other," O'Neil said of his relationship with Davis. "The chemistry wasn't right."
On the night of the killing, O'Neil testified, he knew he was in trouble when he came home late and saw the expression on Davis' face.
"It was one of those go-to-hell looks," he said.
In disputing O'Neil's account that he shot to protect himself from a knife attack, Gardner noted that most of the gunshot wounds were to Davis' back.
"Is it necessary to shoot somebody in the back so many times?" she asked.
by CNB