SAN DIEGO : Sanity Deliberated in Elgar Slayings

The jury in the sanity trial of Larry Hansel began deliberations Tuesday to determine if the former Elgar Corp. worker should be held responsible for the murders of two high-level officials at the Mira Mesa firm.

Hansel, a 42-year-old electronics technician, pleaded guilty last month to two counts of murder and special circumstance allegations stemming from the June 4, 1991, attack.

If found to be sane when he used a shotgun to kill John Jones, Elgar’s 48-year-old vice president and general manager, and Michael Krowitz, the firm’s 46-year-old regional sales manager, Hansel will be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

But if attorney Alex Loebig Jr. was able to convince the jury during a one-week trial that Hansel believed that Elgar was the seat of the Antichrist and was leading the world to nuclear war, he will be sent to a state mental institution until he recovers from his mental illness.

During his closing argument Tuesday, Loebig described behavior that he said clearly shows Hansel’s state of psychosis.

“Can you imagine anyone taking a radiation monitor out to a campsite in case nuclear war starts?” Loebig asked the jury, noting that Hansel had his Boy Scout troop bury food and chlorinated water in the desert when they camped there.

But Deputy Dist. Atty. Gregg McClain said Hansel’s actions indicated intelligence, planning and cunning.

After being terminated three months before the shootings, Hansel asked a co-worker if he had a claim against Elgar. Furthermore, if he really thought he was saving the world from communism or some other worldwide conspiracy, why did he ignore employees in the Elgar parking lot instead of proclaiming he had just saved them from the money-grubbing corporate conspiracy, McClain asked.

“It had nothing to do with money,” McClain said. “It had to do with him being angry for being terminated. He didn’t need the money. It was the principle of the thing. Just because you have strong convictions doesn’t mean he’s insane.”

Jury deliberations will continue today.