On Monday, October 15th, Zachery Deville, who was arrested for stabbing Turkey Creek Police Chief, Glenn Leggett, appeared before 13th Judicial District Court Judge Gary Ortego to change his not guilty plea to not guilty by reason of insanity.
Months before the stabbing, Deville was serving a nine year sentence for simple burglary and simple criminal damage to property. He was released from jail November 2017. At the time of Deville’s release, his attorney Alex Chapman said, “My client reentered society not having received treatment for his mental illness.”
Chapman explained, “Knowing my client has previously been diagnosed with mental disorders, and knowing his mom had to get a restraining order against him not long after his release from jail, I feel it shows a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity is more fitting for my client.”
The one hiccup in Deville’s new case, according to Chapman, would be the fact that the defendant ran from authorities after an altercation resulted in the stabbing of Chief Leggett in March 2018.
“Running is often thought to mean that someone knows what they are doing,” said Chapman. “However, running in itself is not indicative that someone knows right or wrong.”
To build his case, Chapman intends on using records from New Horizons, where Deville sought treatment, the restraining order the defendant’s mother filed against him, and a statement from a witness to the incident. According to Chapman, parts of the witness’ statement point to the fact Deville was suffering from some form of mental disorder at the time the crime was committed.
Chapman said, “Judge Ortego accepted the new plea because of the witness report.”
Chapman’s reason why he believes the judge accepted the plea change is because the witness shared in his statement that they asked the defendant “what was going on” not long before the stabbing occurred. The witness alleges Deville responded that he had “heard voices in the house or in the woods and went to check and see if everybody was okay.”
The witness also alleges when he asked Deville if he was okay, Deville said, yes but he was “messed up on marijuana.” The defendant also allegedly stated he “hoped that he didn’t trip out and do something stupid.”
According to Chapman, Louisiana follows the M’Naghten Rule when it comes to the insanity defense. This means when a defendant enters a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity an evaluation must be performed to determine whether the defendant could distinguish right or wrong at the time the crime was allegedly committed.
Chapman, who represented Horace Toussaint in a 2006 Ville Platte murder, is no newcomer to insanity plea cases. During the Toussaint trial, Chapman said he felt confident the jury was going to find his client not guilty by reason of insanity for similar reasons why he feels a jury would find Deville not guilty by reason of insanity.
According to the local attorney, Toussaint had suffered from “long term” mental illnesses. How the jury would have decided in this trial will never be known, due to the fact that right before closing arguments were presented, the court was advised the defendant had passed away due to natural causes.
However, Chapman will have another go at an insanity plea case when he argues Deville’s defense during the defendant’s trial set for March 7, 2019.