Teen Accused Of Shooting Parents Not Guilty By Reason Of Insanity

PLAINFIELD, IL — A Plainfield teen accused of killing his parents in his Central Michigan University dorm room last March is not guilty by reason of insanity, the Chicago Tribune reports. For months the court had ruled that he was unfit to stand trial.

According to police, then-19-year-old James Eric Davis, Jr., shot both his parents using a gun belonging to his father, a Bellwood, Illinois, police officer. A day before the shooting Davis had been admitted to a local hospital for evaluation after campus police said he was behaving erratically.

Davis was apprehended about 16 hours after the shooting, just after midnight, when he was spotted standing near some railroad tracks wearing only his underwear and suffering from hypothermia.

A day before the shooting, Davis had gone to campus police saying he believed someone meant to harm him. Officers said he appeared "very frightened" and he spoke about a warrant for his arrest for murder before the shooting even took place.

Davis also spoke of an encounter he reportedly had with a person in an elevator, police said. Authorities said his story didn't make a lot of sense and surveillance video of the elevator showed Davis and another person laughing with no sign of any danger.

Police allowed Davis to return to his dorm, but said when he continued behaving erratically they asked Davis to call his parents and spoke to them on the phone. Davis was taken to the hospital for evaluation, and his parents told authorities they were on their way to check on him.

Sometime after being released from the hospital the next morning, Davis took a gun from his father's car and returned to his dorm room, where police say he shot James Eric Davis, Sr., and Diva Jeneen Davis.

Teachers at Plainfield Central High School described Davis as quiet and polite. His friends and family said they were shocked when they heard the allegations.

Now a judge has agreed that Davis was suffering from a mental episode when he shot his parents. He won't stand trial, but could nonetheless spend the rest of his life in a psychiatric facility, officials said.

Shannon Antinori contributed to this reporting.

Photo: A Michigan police officer searches for Davis after police say he shot his parents in his dorm room on March 2, 2018. (Rachel Woolf/Getty Images)