Suspect in western Washtenaw indecent exposure cases intends to use insanity plea
An Iosco County man accused of exposing himself to several residents in western Washtenaw County since the beginning of the year intends to use the insanity defense at trial.
Court records show the public defender representing William Engle recently filed an intent to argue that the 48-year-old East Tawas man has no understanding of criminal responsibility and may not be able to assist with his own defense. Engle is charged with four counts of indecent exposure by a sexually delinquent person.
William Engle
Engle, a veteran of the U.S. military, underwent a psychiatric evaluation at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Ann Arbor following his arrest in August, officials said. Results of that examination were not available in court records.
A second round of testing at the Center for Forensic Psychiatry in York Township is pending. A competency hearing is scheduled for Nov. 23.
Washtenaw County Sheriff’s deputies arrested Engle shortly after he allegedly left the driveway of a Lima Township home at about midnight on Aug. 17. Police said he typically drove up to strangers' homes, waited for them to notice him, and then began masturbating while the dome light of his vehicle was on, officials said.
Engle is suspected in at least a dozen similar incidents reported in Ann Arbor, Dexter Township, Scio Township and Webster Township since February.
Engle remains in custody on a $50,000 bond.
Art Aisner is a freelance writer for AnnArbor.com. Reach the news desk at news@annarbor.com or 734-623-2530.
Comments
krc
Tue, Oct 12, 2010 : 9:18 a.m.
ick and ick and ick again. Glad he's behind bars and hope he stays there for a long long time.
smokeblwr
Mon, Oct 11, 2010 : 6:14 p.m.
Snehal, all I'm saying is there was no mention of the gender of his victims....so we can't assume they were female. Different strokes for different folks.
Mick52
Mon, Oct 11, 2010 : 6:08 p.m.
Go ahead and try it but it will not work, it almost never does. In this case it will not work because this offender has been very successful in the commission of his crimes. He is suspected in at least 12 incidents and was not apprehended, and he has no trouble driving. People who are so mentally deficient that this defense works for them get caught very quickly because they do not have the mental ability to plan, conduct and escape successfully so many times. To be able to do so without being caught after so many attempts shows this guy has the marbles to be judged "sane enough." He probably was caught only because a patrol car was nearby or someone got his license plate number. If he were so insane he would qualify for a NGRI he probably would have still been at the scene, "in progress" the first time the police got a call and would say, "hold on I'm almost done." Probably the most classic case to exhibit this is Jeffrey Dahlmer. He went for insanity plea it and failed for the same reason even though his behavior was unspeakable. He was very successful at committing murder and not being detected for a significant number of crimes. Didn't work for him and should not work for this fella.
fishguts
Mon, Oct 11, 2010 : 5:13 p.m.
I know an individual personnally impacted by this man. If he is successful in his insane defense, what does it mean in terms of back on the street? That would be helpful information to include in the article.
Snehal
Mon, Oct 11, 2010 : 3:52 p.m.
smokeblwr, Was he masturbating in front of guys then? "Police said he typically drove up to strangers' homes, waited for them to notice him, and then began masturbating while the dome light of his vehicle was on". So, he knows that therte would be people in the house. And my question is how does he know that? Did he stalked people to their houses? Doesn't sound like an insane person to me.
drut_ferguson
Mon, Oct 11, 2010 : 3 p.m.
So he's basically using the George Costanza defense: "Was that wrong? Should I NOT have done that?"
smokeblwr
Mon, Oct 11, 2010 : 2:29 p.m.
Snehal, who said anything about a female needing to be in the house?
Cash
Mon, Oct 11, 2010 : 1:49 p.m.
And so...any poster here know this man to be mentally sound? I think that might be best determined by the psychiatric testing.
Snehal
Mon, Oct 11, 2010 : 1:41 p.m.
What a joke! People will go to such absurd defense mechanism to take undue advantage of the judicial system. Insanity, my foot! "he typically drove up to strangers' homes, waited for them to notice him, and then began masturbating while the dome light of his vehicle was on" - Is this a sign of an insane person? How did he know that there was a female in that house? And even if they plea insanity, will he spend time in mental hospital or will he go free?