The freeing of a killer in Warren County has prompted local authorities to weigh whether to seek a change in Ohio’s handling of insanity defenses.
Jeffrey D. Bornhoeft is free, less than 15 years after he killed his ex-wife’s new husband, firing three .357 caliber bullets at point-blank range into the back of Jamey Johnson’s head as he lay sleeping in Lebanon.
On Feb. 6, Judge James Flannery ruled Bornhoeft, now 45, should no longer be subject to court supervision.
In the ruling, Flannery appealed once again to Ohio legislators for a law like Michigan’s “where someone can be found guilty but mentally ill as an alternative to the difference between a person who is either guilty of aggravated murder or not guilty of it because of his insanity.”
Bornhoeft’s lawyer and a University of Dayton law professor say the current state law follows with contemporary thought on mental illness.
“Why is it we want to punish them even more?” UD professor Tom Hagel said. “We are holding people who are clinically insane responsible for their conduct.”
In November 2000, a jury found him not guilty by reason of insanity of the murder of Johnson, a 23-year-old former Dayton man.
Last week, Warren County Prosecutor David Fornshell said that, after reviewing Flannery’s ruling, his office was researching whether to appeal to state lawmakers for a law change.
“If it’s a loophole that somebody’s going to slip through a lot, then that’s an issue,” Fornshell said.
Flannery has been pursuing the change since taking over the case in 2004.
