A judge found a doctor not guilty by reason of insanity on Monday for killing her beloved sister. Charee Nichole Howard, 39, is set to be placed into the custody of a state hospital in Florida, according to Tampa Fox affiliate WTVT.
She killed Sherry Lynn Howard, 54, at their shared home in St. Petersburg. Charee was a licensed osteopathic physician running her own business, according to The Tampa Bay Times. Sherry worked as a Realtor for Keller Williams.
Family members reportedly described the sisters as very close. Sherry Lynn Howard was like a mother figure to her younger sibling ever since their parents died, according to Tampa NBC affiliate WFLA.
But on April 11, Charee Howard called 911 to say she killed her sister by choking her. Law enforcement arrived to find Sherry on the floor inside the front door.
“I know my nieces are good nieces,” the sisters’ aunt Debborah Howard told Tampa NBC affiliate WFLA. “I know how their mother raised them. They were like two peas in a pod, so what triggered this off, I don’t know.”
The state’s mental health expert says it was a mental illness and that she did not know right from wrong at the time. Dr. Mark Ruiz testified Monday that the defendant lives with schizophrenia.
“Specifically, because she’s had episodes of bizarre behavior,” he said, according to WTVT. “She has suffered from what sounds [like] what would appear to be paranoid or persecutory delusional beliefs related to witchcraft or spiritual warfare, and these were fairly persistent.”
Ruiz and the defense psychologist, Dr. Michael Maher, reportedly said Charee is a danger to herself and others, especially if untreated.
Behavior leading up to the killing included the defendant calling 911 in March to claim that a man in her home tied her up.
The state expert called the killing “striking” in light of her history.
“Particularly it was striking when you know how well-educated this woman was, is, and how high she functioned in the community prior to this,” he said. “She appeared to be exhibiting signs of psychotic or paranoid episodes.”
Ruiz reportedly noticed she was diagnosed with what WTVT reported was “psychotic-like” behavior shortly before the killing. He said she was not, however, taking her medication.
Under cross-examination, he acknowledged Charee expressing disbelief about what she did to her sister.
“Would you agree that she expressed disbelief that she could have harmed her sister, who she loved so much?” Assistant Public Defender Maria Deliberato asked, according to the Times.
“Yes,” Ruiz said. “She did say that.”
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