Professor’s Attacker Committed as Insane
Jared Essig, accused of stabbing a Pomona College professor, was committed to a state mental institution Thursday after the court accepted his plea of not guilty by reason of insanity, court officials said.
Essig, 22, was charged with attempted murder in the Oct. 30 attack on Frederick Sontag, 76, a philosophy professor. Sontag, who was stabbed in the neck, recovered.
Essig pleaded no contest to the charge of attempted murder but said he was not guilty because he was mentally ill at the time of the attack. Three psychiatrists examined Essig and determined he was mentally ill. Court Commissioner Wade Olson agreed and recommended that Essig be committed to Patton State Hospital near San Bernardino.
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