Clayton Andrew Swanner, 36, Crossville, entered an open plea of “guilty but mentally ill” to the offense of First Degree Murder with an agreed sentencing range of 20-45 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections. The case has been set for a sentencing hearing on January 6, 2021 in front of Judge T. Scott Webb who accepted Swanner’s guilty plea Wednesday morning. At the sentencing hearing, State’s Attorney Denton Aud will present evidence on behalf of the State with Public Defender Brian Shinkle presenting evidence on behalf of the defense before the two sides make arguments as to what sentence they believe should be imposed. Ultimately, the judge will decide what the appropriate sentence is and will impose a sentence between 20 and 45 years; Swanner will have to serve 100% of whatever sentence imposed by the court meaning that he could be in the Illinois Department of Corrections until he is in his 80’s depending on what the court decides at his sentencing hearing. The State agreed to dismiss the other counts in exchange for the open plea of guilty; the family of the victim has been included in the proceedings and supportive of Wednesday’s resolution.
In pleading guilty, Swanner admitted that the evidence showed that on November 7, 2019, Swanner committed the offense of First Degree Murder in that he, without lawful justification, after starting a fire in their residence in Crossville, shoved Cathy S. Brandenstein, his mother, into the fire and held her in the fire knowing such act created a strong probability of death to her and thereby caused her death on January 10, 2020.
To be clear, “guilty but mentally ill” is not the same thing as “not guilty by reason of insanity”. When someone pleads “guilty but mentally ill”, it means that they have been evaluated by a psychiatrist who finds that the individual had mental capacity to appreciate the criminality of his conduct at the time of the crime but that the individual was mentally ill at the time of the incident. Before the court can accept a plea of “guilty but mentally ill”, the court must first hold a hearing after the defendant has been examined by a clinical psychologist or psychiatrist where the court considers the psychiatric or psychological reports and is satisfied that the there is a factual basis that the defendant was mentally ill at the time of the offense. When someone is convicted of a crime by being found “guilty but mentally ill”, they are sentenced the exact same way and with the same possible sentence as someone who is found “guilty” without a mental illness.
“Not guilty by reason of insanity” is a situation where a person is not found to be criminally responsible for conduct when at the time of the conduct, as a result of mental disease or mental defect, he lacks substantial capacity to appreciate the criminality of his conduct. The psychiatrist in this case did not find that Swanner met the criteria for “not guilty by reason of insanity” but did find that Swanner fit the criteria for “guilty but mentally ill”. Swanner is being held criminally responsible for his conduct and will ultimately be sentenced to the Illinois Department of Corrections for an extended period of time.
