SEATTLE – A King County man charged with stabbing a stranger to death in downtown Seattle in 2023 was found not guilty by reason of insanity last week, and will be sent to a state psychiatric hospital instead of trial, according to court documents.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys jointly asked a judge to accept the insanity plea of Sana Ceesay, 29, in the killing of Fontaine Jackson, acquit him on a first-degree murder charge, and commit him to the custody of the state Department of Social and Health Services for treatment.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE | Man accused in fatal Capitol Hill stabbing has lengthy criminal history with dozens of arrests
The agreement was outlined in a memorandum filed May 14 by the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.
Prosecutors said Ceesay stabbed Jackson multiple times on July 4, 2023. Court documents state there was no evidence that the men knew each other before that night.
Witnesses told investigators that Ceesay chased Jackson with a large knife and continued stabbing him after he fell to the ground. One witness recalled Jackson yelling, “Why are you doing this, I don’t even know you!”
After the attack, prosecutors said, Ceesay walked away from the scene carrying his belongings before being arrested nearby. According to the memorandum, he later told detectives he stabbed Jackson because he “wanted to end his suffering.”
The filing says concerns about Ceesay’s mental health emerged early in the case. Defense attorneys raised competency issues several months after his arraignment, and the court ordered multiple competency restoration periods before finding him competent to stand trial.
Psychologists who evaluated Ceesay diagnosed him with schizophrenia spectrum disorders, substance abuse disorders, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Evaluators also documented paranoid delusions, auditory hallucinations, and beliefs that people were trying to kill him.
Three mental health experts – two retained by the defense and one who evaluated Ceesay for the state – concluded that he was psychotic at the time of the killing and unable to distinguish right from wrong because of mental illness, the filing states.
One evaluator wrote that Ceesay believed he was acting under command hallucinations telling him to kill Jackson or be killed himself. The evaluator concluded that although Ceesay understood the nature of his actions, he lacked “the capacity to distinguish right from wrong.”
The memorandum also stated the evaluator found Ceesay currently poses an elevated risk of future violence because of his mental illness, history of violence, substance abuse, and lack of stable support systems.
According to state records, Ceesay had been arrested 28 times prior to the killing, mostly for assaults and harassment. Before the stabbing, Ceesay’s most recent run-in with the law was a felony harassment and assault case for an incident in 2022 near Third and Pine streets.
Court records in that case state Ceesay “told the victim he would kill him and then repeatedly hit the victim in the head with a rubber mallet” over a disagreement over the price of a pack of cigarettes he wanted to buy from the victim.
Under Washington law, defendants acquitted by reason of insanity can be committed to a state psychiatric hospital if they are found to pose a substantial danger to others.With the judge’s acceptance of the plea deal, Ceesay has been acquitted of murder by reason of insanity and will be committed to a state mental hospital for treatment rather than sentenced to prison.
ट्विटर पर साझा करें: Man who stabbed stranger to death in Capitol Hill acquitted by reason of insanity
