Man Charged in Grandmother’s Killing in 2023 Found Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity

NORFOLK, Va. — A judge on Monday found David Martel MacRonald, 36, not guilty by reason of insanity in the second-degree murder of his grandmother in 2023. Mr. MacRonald, who has been in custody since his arrest, will remain in custody pending an evaluation to determine whether he requires continued commitment to a mental health facility.

Mr. MacRonald, who has a history of mental illness, was accused of beating to death 84-year-old Liu-Chih Howell at some point between the mornings of June 12 and June 13, 2023. Mr. MacRonald was living with Ms. Howell on Dominion Avenue in Norfolk at the time. Ms. Howell’s daughter (Mr. MacRonald’s mother) last saw Ms. Howell alive and uninjured when she visited their residence around 11 a.m. on June 12, 2023. When Ms. Howell’s daughter came back to the residence around the same time the following morning, she found Ms. Howell cold and dead on the couch with significant trauma to her face. Ms. Howell’s subsequent autopsy showed that she had suffered numerous internal injuries as well, including broken ribs.

Mr. MacRonald told police that, before Ms. Howell died, he had heard a thud in their laundry room while he was listening to music in a different room. He claimed that, about an hour after the thud, he went to the laundry room, saw Ms. Howell on the floor bleeding and barely responsive, and picked her up to carry her to the couch. A medical examiner determined that Ms. Howell’s injuries and cause of death were not consistent with a bad fall and ruled her death a homicide.

While Mr. MacRonald’s case was pending trial, his defense counsel requested pursuant to Virginia law that a mental-health doctor evaluate Mr. MacRonald to determine whether he was legally insane at the time he killed his grandmother. The court ordered that evaluation, and the doctor determined that Mr. MacRonald was in fact legally insane at the time of his offense.

In Virginia, a defendant can be considered legally insane if — at time of their crime and because of “mental disease or defect” — they could not understand the nature or consequences of their actions, they were unable to distinguish right from wrong, or they were unable to resist an impulse to commit the actions. Both psychotic disorders and intellectual disabilities qualify as a mental disease or defect.

After receiving notice from the defense of the results of Mr. MacRonald’s first evaluation, the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office requested pursuant to Virginia law that the court appoint a second doctor to perform a new evaluation. That doctor also determined that Mr. MacRonald was legally insane when he killed his grandmother.

Based on both doctors’ reports, Mr. MacRonald entered a plea agreement on Monday requesting to be found not guilty by reason of insanity to his charge of second-degree murder and to be further examined in the custody of the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services. That examination is expected to determine to what extent Mr. MacRonald is mentally ill, the likelihood that he will present a risk of harm to himself or others in the foreseeable future, and whether he requires inpatient treatment at a state mental health hospital or if he can be conditionally released. Judge David W. Lannetti accepted Mr. MacRonald’s plea agreement, found him not guilty by reason of insanity, and will continue to review Mr. MacRonald’s progress in future hearings.

“This crime is a triple tragedy, because Ms. Howell is dead, Mr. MacRonald killed her, and their family has lost them both,” said Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi. “For two doctors to determine that someone is legally insane, that person has to be more than just mentally ill. They have to be so unwell that they do not understand right from wrong, negating the intent necessary to find them legally guilty of a crime. This is a hard standard to meet – many mentally ill people are found guilty every day across America of crimes and are sent to jail or prison, itself a failure of our system to address mental illness – but in Mr. MacRonald’s case, it was clearly the correct conclusion. The law punishes people’s intent, and it cannot punish people who do not understand right from wrong.”

Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney George M. Afentakis and Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Cynthia D. Collard are prosecuting Mr. MacRonald’s case, and Norfolk Police Detective Matthew M. Nordan led the investigation.

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