Beheaded Boy Prosecution Cost More Than $230,000

THIBODAUX, La. (AP) — District Attorney Cam Morvant says Lafourche Parish spent more than $230,000 prosecuting a Thibodaux man accused of decapitating his disabled son.

Thirty-two-year-old Jeremiah Wright was found not guilty by reason of insanity in the 2011 death of 7-year-old Jori Lirette. He had been charged with capital murder.

A judge handed down the verdict without trial in February, after prosecutors agreed that mental illness had kept Wright from understanding he was doing something wrong.

Morvant tells The Daily Comet that in-depth mental and background investigations make cases involving mental illness expensive.

Wright remains in the parish jail until he can be moved to the state forensic mental hospital in Jackson.

Sheriff's spokesman Brennan Matherne says it can sometimes take years for a bed to become available.