After deliberating for 15 hours over three days, a Baltimore County jury rejected a 60-year-old woman's insanity defense on Thursday and found her guilty of shooting her estranged husband to death and of trying to kill their teenage daughter.
Mary C. Koontz, a former English teacher at Sparrows Point High School, showed no visible reaction in the tense courtroom as the jury's forewoman declared her "guilty" of each of six counts — including first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder and assault — and answered "yes" to a final question, which asked whether the defendant was criminally responsible for the crimes.
Koontz' daughter, Kelsey, sitting in the front row, burst into tears, as did her sister-in-law, Beth Luca. Other relatives and friends sighed with relief and broke into smiles.
The jury's definitive answer to the question of criminal responsibility was a repudiation of the defense's argument that a lifetime of emotional illnesses — worsened by the familial chaos that helped end the couple's marriage — had rendered the defendant incapable of understanding what she was doing on June 19, 2009, the day Ronald G. Koontz died after being shot four times.
The verdict means that, when she is sentenced on Aug. 10, Mary Koontz will likely be sent to a state prison, not to a psychiatric institution, from which she would be eligible for release if she were deemed not a threat to herself or others. Prosecutors did not seek the death penalty in the case.
"We're relieved," Kelsey Koontz said later outside the courthouse. As she and her group walked away, some exchanged high-fives.
Standing before a battery of microphones, Baltimore County State's Attorney Scott D. Shellenberger said the guilty verdicts were crucial for Kelsey, who "needs to live the rest of her life without having to look over her shoulder."
He said the events leading to the 11-day trial of Mary Koontz had been an ordeal for the girl, who is now 17.
"It's particularly difficult when your mother has killed your father and has tried to kill you," Shellenberger said.
The state's attorney called Kelsey a heroine for having the presence of mind to lock her bedroom door and immediately call the police after her mother had left the room. Officers arrived a few minutes later to find Koontz and her injured husband, both covered in blood, wrestling for the .38-caliber revolver on the lawn outside the house. She was disarmed and arrested. He was pronounced dead in a hospital.
Only two days before his murder, Ron Koontz had attended a party in honor of his retirement after more than 30 years in the county schools system, mostly as an administrator. He had also been a wrestling coach at Towson High School.
His wife's attorney, Richard M. Karceski, had painted Ron Koontz for the jury as an emotionally distant husband who had precipitated their separation in November 2007, when he sought a court order that prompted his wife's removal from their home by a police officer and her evaluation for mental illness.
Mary Koontz's defense to the charges against her had rested on the premise that she was so affected by emotional disorders that she was in a so-called dissociative state — removed from the impact of her actions — when she gained access to the family's home in Glen Arm and fatally wounded her husband of 20 years. Her daughter testified during the trial that she awoke to the sound of gunshots and, seconds later, saw her mother in her bedroom doorway, her two hands clasping a revolver. Kelsey said she rolled over to protect herself, and heard a single shot. It missed.
"I certainly believe she was not criminally responsible for her actions," Koontz's attorney told reporters after the verdict. Karceski noted that it was the defense's burden to prove the insanity defense but, he added, "we didn't meet that standard of more likely than not."
The question of whether a defendant is criminally responsible, he went on, is rarely addressed in a courtroom because it is difficult to prove.
"It's not usually on the menu, like American cheese on white," Karceski said. "You have to learn something that's fairly like Greek."
He suggested that the jury's long deliberations were a function of disagreements as to whether his client — who both prosecution and defense agreed has a borderline personality disorder — was ill enough to be unaware of her actions. "It was the only issue," Karceski said.
"Losing is never easy," he said. "I gave it my best shot. I left a pound of my flesh there on the courtroom floor."
Karceski said that if Koontz, who was being held at the Baltimore County Detention Center, is sent to a state prison, "I fear she will not get the treatment she needs."
In any event, Karceski said, he plans to appeal the verdict. Asked what his client's reaction had been as they talked in the courtroom after the jury's conclusions had been announced, he pointed to her usual demeanor, calm and virtually immobile.
"Her affect has not changed during the entire trial," he said. "She sits there almost mummified."
Deputy State's Attorney Robin S. Coffin, who prosecuted the case, hugged Kelsey and other relatives as the hearing drew to a close, and then went to the judge's chambers with Karceski to set the sentencing date. Coffin had asked Baltimore County Circuit Judge Thomas J. Bollinger to schedule the sentencing before Kelsey departs in mid-August for college out of state.
While Kelsey and her companions listened near the courthouse steps, the state's attorney read a statement prepared by the Koontz family.
"We are grateful for the diligence and patience of the jury in their pursuit for truth and justice," Shellenberger said. "Ronald Koontz was a loving father, loyal friend and dedicated Baltimore County employee. We are offended by the defense's unyielding attacks on Ronald Koontz's character. We do not, however, feel the need to defend his honor because he left his legacy in the students he taught, the children he raised and the people he inspired."
The statement, figuratively addressing Ron Koontz himself, said, "You did nothing to deserve what happened on June 19, 2009."