Dan DeLong / P-IJohn 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.
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...
