Insanity Plea Entered in Convair Shootings

Robert Earl Mack, the former General Dynamics worker accused of shooting two company executives, changed his plea in the murder case Monday to not guilty by reason of insanity.

Mack, 44, of San Diego, who was fired Jan. 15 from his position on the advanced cruise missile assembly line, is charged with murder and attempted murder. If convicted and found to be sane at the time of the Jan. 24 shootings, he could be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Prosecutors allege that Mack was “lying in wait” when he carried a .38-caliber revolver into a grievance hearing at the Convair Division plant near Lindbergh Field. That charge is a special circumstance, which, if found to be true by a jury, would make the life-without-parole sentence mandatory.

However, if a jury convicts Mack but determines he was insane, he will be sentenced to a medical institution.

Superior Court Judge Frederic L. Link warned Mack about the possible ramifications of his change of plea, saying, “You could be held in an institution for the rest of your life.”

Labor negotiator Michael Konz, 25, was killed by a single shot to the back of the head after Mack’s grievance meeting. James English, 52, Mack’s former supervisor, was critically injured when he was also shot in the back of the head. He has been undergoing rehabilitation and has been unable to return to work.

Defense attorney J. Michael Roake said a psychological evaluation of Mack determined that he might have been insane at the time of the attack.

“We have evidence he may not have understood the nature of his act,” Roake said.

Link ordered two court-appointed psychologists to evaluate Mack and prepare their reports by June 3, when a readiness conference is scheduled.

Mack, who is being held without bail, is set to go on trial June 24.