The man who carried out a series of highway shootings that terrorized central Ohio and killed one woman is dropping his insanity defense and agreeing to plead guilty, the judge said Monday.
Barring a last-minute change of heart by the defendant or prosecutors, Charles McCoy Jr. will enter the plea this afternoon, Judge Charles Schneider said after meeting with one of the man's attorneys. He did not have details of the agreement.
McCoy's first trial ended in a mistrial in May. Jurors could not decide if McCoy was legally insane, meaning he did not understand right from wrong, during the shootings over five months in 2003 and 2004.
McCoy, 29, faces decades in prison. The judge said he will recommend that McCoy serve his sentence in a prison mental health wing so he can be treated for his paranoid schizophrenia.
Prosecutor Ron O'Brien would not confirm a deal had been reached but said an agreement would be discussed today.
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