Jason Dalton Will Plead Insanity in Kalamazoo Shooting Case

The defense attorneys for Jason Dalton, the man who allegedly killed six people and injured two others in Kalamazoo February 20, will present an insanity defense, the Kalamazoo County prosecutor said in a press conference Monday.

“It wasn’t a surprise at all. This is where I expected the case to go from the very beginning,” Prosecutor Jeffrey Getting said at the afternoon news conference.

Dalton faces 16 felony charges in connection with the shooting spree in which Mary Jo Nye, Barbara Hawthorne, Judy Brown, Mary Lou Nye, Richard Smith, and Tyler Smith were killed and Abigail Kopf and Tiana Carruthers were injured.

Dalton's defense team will work to prove that he was legally insane at the time of the shooting, meaning that he did not know that what he was doing was wrong.

Dalton will undergo a 60-day psychiatric evaluation at the Center for Forensic Psychiatry in Saline. After the Center releases their report, the state or defense could request another, independent evaluation.

Dalton's trial is expected to begin in late September or early October.