Janicki acquitted in father’s murder

Judge determines Dayton man was insane when he stabbed his father with sword.

By: Sharlee DiMenichi
   A Dayton man charged with killing his father was acquitted due to insanity today (Thursday) at the Middlesex County courthouse in New Brunswick.
   State Superior Court Judge Frederick De Vesa found that Michael Janicki, 19, was too schizophrenic to make ethical judgments when he stabbed his father, Ortwin Janicki, 55, with a decorative sword in their Madison Place, Dayton, home July 17, while the older man slept.
   Police arrested Michael Janicki on July 18 in Plainsboro near Schalks Crossing Road after Plainsboro Patrol Officer Joseph Jankowski found him under a railroad bridge on the N.J. Transit Northeast Corridor line. He was charged with murder and unlawful possession of a weapon.
   State-appointed forensic psychiatrist Louis Schlesinger of Maplewood said Michael Janicki was hallucinating and delusional at the time of the crime.
   The judge ordered Michael Janicki removed from the Middlesex County Adult Correction Center, placed in custody of the state Department of Human Services and evaluated for commitment to a mental health facility.
   Based on Michael Janicki’s answers to questions by his defense attorney, Judge De Vesa determined that Michael Janicki, who had waived his right to a jury, was mentally fit for trial, but legally insane.
   Mr. Schlesinger said Michael Janicki understood the nature of his actions, but that his disorder prevented him from making ethical judgments.
   Dr. Schlesinger said Michael Janicki had a hallucination of a blond haired man who told him to kill his father to protect his mother, Cheryl Janicki, and the blond man, from being attacked by a gun-wielding gang that Michael Janicki believed was outside his house.
   Michael Janicki believed killing his father would prompt the gang to kill him instead of Ms. Janicki and the blond man, Dr. Schlesinger said.
   Dr. Schlesinger said Michael Janicki told him that on the night of the slaying, "The blond guy said ‘kill your father and then they’ll get you.’ "
   Department of Human Services staff are to evaluate Michael Janicki for placement in a mental health facility in the next 30 days, said defense attorney William Fetky.
   Once placed in a facility, Michael Janicki will be reevaluated every six months.
   Mr. Fetky said after the trial that he hopes Michael Janicki will eventually respond to treatment well enough that a judge will order him released from the facility.