JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – After a non-jury trial, Robert Downing was found not guilty by reason of insanity Friday in the 1986 beating death of two elderly women.
The ruling means Downing (pictured, left), now 45, will likely spend the rest of his life in a secure psychiatric facility, which prosecutor George Bateh said was the most he could expect.
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Downing was arrested in 1986 after witnesses said he used a tire iron to bludgeon Cullie Paige, 80, and Olga Sass, 79, to death.
Downing, who said at the time that the women planned to rape and poison him, was declared incompetent to stand trial and was ordered into a psychiatric lockup, where he remained until last year when it appeared that the state Department of Children and Families was about to move him to a non-secure facility.
In April, Circuit Judge Lance Day found Downing competent to stand trial after receiving reports from two court-appointed psychiatrists.
In May, the Duval County grand jury indicted Downing on two counts of first-degree murder.
A judge will review the case annually, but Downing won't get out unless he's no longer deemed a threat to others. Bateh doubts that would happen.