Effort Begins to Move Car Killer to Hospital

Larry Young thought that his brother, Dannie, should have been placed in a mental hospital several years ago. There was no doubt that Dannie Young was paranoid and alienated from society, he said. The problem was, Dannie didn’t think so, and he never felt that he needed treatment.

The effort to commit Dannie Lee Young, 23, to a mental hospital began anew Thursday in arguments before the state Court of Appeal in Los Angeles. Lawyers are trying to undo Young’s conviction for murder and attempted murder on the July night in 1984 when he plowed a Buick into a crowded Westwood sidewalk, killing a 15-year-old girl and injuring 48 other people.

Young, now serving a 106-year sentence at the California Correctional Institution at Tehachapi, “clearly belongs in a state mental hospital rather than a state prison,” defense lawyer Jonathan Milberg told the appeals panel. The justices are not expected to issue a ruling for several months.

In arguing whether a new trial is warranted for Young, Milberg and Deputy Atty. Gen. Joan Comparet debated fine legal points concerning the proper limits of psychiatric testimony concerning a defendant’s intent to kill. Milberg contended that the trial judge’s interpretation of the law was overly restrictive and unjustly kept psychiatrists from telling the jury that Young was so deluded that he could not distinguish right from wrong.

Comparet said the judge correctly interpreted the law regarding the propriety of psychiatrists’ drawing conclusions about Young’s intent. She also cited statements by Young to police in which he described how he went to Westwood “so I could kill people and be on TV.”

Shortly after his arrest, Young also told police that he had hoped his actions would help him get publicity to right what he felt was a terrible injustice. He told police that Congress had passed a law forcing him to live in poverty and write hit movies and songs for Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder, for which he would receive no money or credit.

Although two psychiatrists testified that Young was a “paranoid schizophrenic,” a jury found him legally sane when he drove into the Westwood crowd. The jury found that Young, although mentally ill, was able to determine right from wrong.

Young’s mother and brother, Larry, both attended the appellate hearing Thursday. In a 1984 interview, Larry Young told how Danny had exhibited mental problems since early 1983, when he was convicted of a burglary. A few months later, Dannie doused himself with gasoline. Although he had matches, he didn’t light them, his brother said. Instead, he started laughing.

He was then committed to a mental health clinic for 72 hours. Given the choice of staying for further treatment or leaving, Dannie Young left.

“He just alienated himself from everyone and locked himself in his own little world,” Larry Young said Thursday after the hearing. “In his own mind, he always denied he was sick.”

Milberg also argued that the judge had not adequately instructed the jury about the consequences of a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity. Publicity before and during the trial, Milberg contended, may have misled the jury into believing that a finding of insanity would have allowed Young “to be released out on the streets.”

If the appeals court grants a new trial and a jury decides that Young is not guilty by reason of insanity, Young would be committed to a state mental hospital for an indefinite period. He would be eligible for release when and if doctors decided his mental condition had sufficiently improved.

Under his current sentence, Young will be eligible for parole in 55 years.