Austin Harrouff has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to two counts of first-degree murder and other charges for his August 2016 slayings of John and Michelle Stevens.
. It will be in Stuart, an hour drive north of West Palm Beach, and last about three weeks.
If Harrouff is ruled insane, Bauer will commit him to a secure mental hospital until doctors and a judge agree that he is no longer dangerous. That would also effectively be a life sentence, said Craig Trocino, a University of Miami law professor, because “it's highly unlikely” that doctors and a judge would risk releasing a killer as notorious as Harrouff.
Lea Johnston, a University of Florida law professor, said that only about 1% of felony defendants try an insanity defense because the bar to succeed is so high. About a quarter of those succeed, usually in a pretrial deal where prosecutors agree that the defendant's mental illness meets the standard.
Harrouff's attack made national headlines because of its brutality and randomness; he did not know the victims. He was a 19-year-old with no criminal record — a former high school football player and wrestler who was studying exercise science. He stripped nearly naked and attacked the couple in their open garage with tools that he found there. When police arrived, Harrouff was biting chunks off John Stevens' face.
Harrouff's parents, who are divorced, and others said he had acted strangely for weeks. His parents had set up an appointment for him to be evaluated, but the attack occurred first.
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