Local Man Ruled Insane in Wesleyan Murder

Former Marblehead resident Stephen Morgan was found not guilty by reason of insanity Friday in a case involving the 2009 shooting death of a Wesleyan University student.

The Associated Press reported the trial portrayed Morgan, 32, as anti-Semetic and mentally ill as he stalked and harassed the young female victim. 

According to an Associated Press story, Morgan was charged with murder and other crimes in the May 2009 death of 21-year-old Johanna Justin-Jinich. The college junior from Timnath, Colo., was shot seven times while working at a bookstore cafe near the liberal arts school in Middletown.

During the trial, Morgan sat in a chair at the defense table rocking back and forth. At times, he shook his legs up and down, the Associated Press reported.

Morgan had apparently met Justin-Jinich at New York University in the summer of 2007, police said.

Police say Justin-Jinich was working at The Red and Black Cafe inside Broad Street Books on May 6, 2009, when Morgan walked in disguised in a wig and glasses and shot her seven times with a handgun before fleeing.

The judges will commit Morgan to Connecticut's maximum-security psychiatric hospital for the criminally insane, most likely after receiving the report in February.