Anchorage jury finds man guilty but mentally ill in 2015 stabbing of his parents

A jury's finding that Martin Victor IV was mentally ill when he stabbed both of his parents means he cannot be paroled until state corrections officials conclude he has completed treatment and is no longer a danger.

Jurors in Anchorage convicted Victor, 52, on Aug. 7 of two counts of attempted murder in the first degree and two counts of assault in the first degree, the Alaska Department of Law said. The same jury found he was guilty but mentally ill at the time of the offenses, and that he lived in the same household as the victims.

The stabbing occurred April 17, 2015, at the family home, where Victor was living while on bail for an unrelated charge. After a disagreement that morning about an upcoming court hearing, the department said, he repeatedly stabbed both parents with multiple kitchen knives. Each suffered life-threatening injuries and required surgery. Evidence supporting the mental illness finding included testimony from his parents, a mental illness diagnosis, his mental health history and a recording of his contact with police immediately after the crimes.

Alaska lawmakers created the guilty but mentally ill verdict in 1982. It leaves a defendant criminally responsible, unlike a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity. Under state law, the Department of Corrections must provide mental health treatment to a defendant found guilty but mentally ill, and that treatment must continue until the person no longer suffers a mental disease or defect that makes them dangerous. Release on furlough or parole is barred during that treatment. Legal scholar Megan Johansen argued in the Alaska Law Review that the verdict works as a punitive prosecutorial tool, keeping mentally ill defendants incarcerated longer than others by denying good-time and parole credit. Corrections is Alaska's largest behavioral health provider and operates inpatient psychiatric beds.

Anchorage Superior Court Judge Jack McKenna presided over the trial and will sentence Victor on Dec. 10. Victor faces 5 to 99 years on each attempted murder count and 7 to 20 years on the assault counts.

Assistant District Attorneys Saphfire Brown and Rachel K. Gernat prosecuted the case. The account above comes from a Department of Law release, which included no response from the defense.