Saturday, September 13, 2008

JUDGE FREES PSYCHOTIC THOMAS GERGEN, KILLED WIFE KARI OSTERHAUG

KARIN INGRID OSTERHAUG 1971 - 2003

Photos from fall 2006 at Kari's Bog on Redmond Ridge Trail.

Dan DeLong / P-I
John Osterhaug, father of victim Kari Osterhaug, listens Friday to a hearing for Thomas Gergen, who pleaded to insanity five years ago.




Angry judge forced to free man who killed wife in 2003
A man who killed his wife five years ago in a psychotic rage must be set free, a judge ordered Friday, because prosecutors presented no proof he is a danger to the community.

By
Natalie Singer
Seattle Times staff reporter

Thomas Gergen will live in Bellevue.
Related
Archive Man charged in killings of his wife, unborn child

A man who killed his wife five years ago in a psychotic rage must be set free, a judge ordered Friday, because prosecutors presented no proof he is a danger to the community.

Superior Court Judge Michael Hayden told Thomas Gergen, 36, he would be released from Western State Hospital to live with his mother in Bellevue in the next 45 days, as soon as a treatment program can be set up.

During Gergen's court hearing on Friday, the judge chastised prosecutors, saying their failure to present any substantial evidence made it virtually impossible for him keep Gergen in custody.

"It is the burden of the prosecutor to provide substantial evidence that Mr. Gergen presents a substantial risk to the community. What evidence have you given me? ... You presented no proof," Hayden scolded.

Gergen has been held at the state mental hospital since he was found not guilty by reason of insanity in the 2003 shooting death of his wife, Kari Osterhaug. The hearing Friday was to decide whether he is stable enough to be released into the community. It was one of several such hearings for Gergen since he was committed.

(snip)

According to testimony and court documents, Gergen's mental illness first appeared while he was in college, and it mushroomed in the months after Osterhaug became pregnant with their first child in 2002. He had become convinced that his father-in-law was trying to poison him, and that the baby wasn't his. He heard voices and believed that his wife asked him to kill her, he later told police and doctors.

On Jan. 4, 2003, Osterhaug, a biologist, and Gergen's mother took Gergen to the hospital for a psychological evaluation. He was released about 2 a.m. the next day. Within five hours, he shot his wife five times in their Shoreline home and shot himself in the face in a suicide attempt, according to court documents.

SHOULD THOMAS GERGEN BE RELEASED? YOU DECIDE...

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

9/11: AMERICA REMEMBERS AND STANDS UNITED. GOD BLESS AMERICA!

Remarks by the President After Two Planes Crash Into World Trade Center Emma Booker Elementary SchoolSarasota, Florida


Listen to the President's Remarks


9:30 A.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Ladies and gentlemen, this is a difficult moment for America. I, unfortunately, will be going back to Washington after my remarks. Secretary Rod Paige and the Lt. Governor will take the podium and discuss education. I do want to thank the folks here at Booker Elementary School for their hospitality.


Today we've had a national tragedy. Two airplanes have crashed into the World Trade Center in an apparent terrorist attack on our country. I have spoken to the Vice President, to the Governor of New York, to the Director of the FBI, and have ordered that the full resources of the federal government go to help the victims and their families, and to conduct a full-scale investigation to hunt down and to find those folks who committed this act.


Terrorism against our nation will not stand.


And now if you would join me in a moment of silence. May God bless the victims, their families, and America. Thank you very much.


END 9:31 A.M. EDT