MOORPARK : Man Pleads Insanity in Fatal Stabbing
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A 23-year-old Moorpark man admitted Wednesday to killing his roommate earlier this year, but said he was insane at the time of the knife attack.
Michael Philip Baity entered his plea of guilty to second-degree murder before his attorney, Todd Howeth, announced Baity would also plead not guilty by reason of insanity.
The guilty plea allows Baity to bypass a guilt phase of the trial and proceed immediately with a sanity trial, which is scheduled to begin Nov. 17 before Ventura County Superior Court Judge Charles W. Campbell.
If Campbell agrees that Baity was insane at the time of the crime, the former Moorpark College student will be sent to a mental hospital, Howeth said. If Campbell finds Baity was sane, he faces a sentence of 16 years to life in prison.
Baity stabbed Fernando Fierro, 54, to death in May in the home they shared with their landlord. Baity was found two days after the murder wandering naked and bloody in a wooded area near Piru.
Howeth declined to comment on what prompted the insanity plea.
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