Jarrod Wyatt, MMA Fighter, Pleads Insanity in Grisly Murder
CRESCENT CITY, Calif. (CBS/AP) Jarrod Wyatt, charged with murdering his sparring partner and accused of allegedly removing his friend's heart, tongue and most of his face has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.
Wyatt's attorney says his client entered the plea last week in Del Norte County Superior Court after consulting medical experts.
The 26-year-old mixed martial arts fighter faces charges of murder, aggravated mayhem and torture in the death of 21-year-old Taylor Powell.
Sheriff's deputies say they found Wyatt naked and bloody on March 21. Powell's body was on a couch next to him with an 18-inch incision in the chest and most of the face removed.
Wyatt was apparently convinced that the world was about to end and that Powell was the Devil, according to the Times-Standard.
"Satan was in that dude," Wyatt allegedly told Del Norte County Police Sgt. Elwood Lee, who responded to the scene.
Lee told the northern California paper that Wyatt also cooked Powell's severed body parts in a wood stove because he thought Powell was still alive.
Witnesses at a preliminary hearing said Wyatt and Powell had ingested hallucinogenic mushrooms. According to his lawyer, Wyatt suffered a psychotic breakdown because of the drugs.
"My client was trying to silence the devil," Wyatt's defense attorney James Fallman told the Times-Standard.
