A Florida judge accepted a former college student’s plea deal Monday for the random 2016 killing of a well-loved couple, allowing the now 25-year-old to plead guilty by reason of insanity and avoid jail time.
Austin Harrouff — who was found by police chewing off one of the victim’s faces — will now be sent to a secure mental health facility until doctors and a judge determine that he is no longer a danger to society, according to Florida news station WPLG.
Circuit Judge Sherwood Bauer made the decision after two psychologists determined that at the time of the brutal killings Harrouff, then 19 years old, had suffered an “acute psychotic episode” and was unable to distinguish right from wrong.
But the decision did not sit well with the families of John Stevens, 59, and Michelle Mishcon Stevens, 53.
“Here we are opening the prison doors for a double murderer,” Michelle’s sister Cindy Mishcon told the court, according to the TC Palm. “Four words come to mind: White rich boy justice.”
The couple was killed when Harrouff randomly attacked them with a machete in the garage of their Tequesta home on Aug. 15, 2016.
Palm Beach County deputies arrived at the scene to find Harrouff “chewing” on the side of John’s face and growling like a dog, according to court documents previously obtained by Oxygen.com.
After he was arrested and taken to the hospital, it appeared that Harrouff spit out human flesh.
“Help me, I ate something bad,” he told officers at the time, later explaining that he had eaten “humans.”
At the time of the brutal murders, Harrouff had no drugs in his system, authorities said.
The case was slated to go on trial before a judge on Monday but the trial was called off after state prosecutors and defense lawyers agreed there was enough evidence in the case to suggest that Harrouff was legally insane at the time of the killings.
“It’s a sad case. It’s an awful case. Nobody is losing sight — I tell you I know I’m not — of the deaths and injuries that were sustained in this case. But when it all gets said and done, the state and the defense have made the determination that mental intent was not formulated. It wasn’t there and therefore the defendant is technically not guilty by reason of insanity,” Bauer said in court, according to the local paper.
Bauer made the ruling after hearing emotional testimony from the victims’ family, who took aim at the prosecutor’s decision to agree to the plea.
“I'm frustrated with the State Attorney's Office and I'm upset that I don't feel like anybody has paid attention or cared about this case in a way that they should have since day one,” Michelle’s sister Jodi Bruce said, adding that she believed prosecutors “completely gave up” on the case.
She described Michelle as the family’s “everything.”
“My family is broken. We will never be repaired,” Bruce said. “My sister was the nicest person, she would do anything for anyone.”
Michelle’s sister Cindy used her time to address the court by reading through dozens of text messages Harrouff had sent his college friends and girlfriend before the brutal murders in which he often discussed his heavy drug use, drinking and blacking out.
“Why the f--k just not do what you want,” he wrote in one message to a friend, according to The New York Post. “Just do the craziest s--t you can. i just want to be great before I die.”
In another, he referred to his own mental state.
“I thought i was crazy, but really not,” he wrote. “I just know that for me personally the drugs are taking a toll on me and I can’t handle.”
Cindy also described a series of phone calls Harrouff had made from jail to his family, where she said he had belittled the victims.
“I quickly realized from listening to those call that you don’t care…about how your actions have affected my family. You don’t care that you murdered my parents’ firstborn child,” she said. “You don’t care about anyone but yourself. In fact, the only victim that you and your family see in all of this is you and the Harrouff name.”
