Jeffrey Dahmer Pleads Not Guilty To Murder By Reason Of Insanity

MILWAUKEE - Jeffrey Dahmer, who has admitted he has killed and dismembered 17 people since 1978, pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity today to 15 murder charges.

The plea means Dahmer would first be tried on charges that he committed the crimes. If he is found guilty, a jury, or judge would then determine whether he was insane and could not be held responsible for his acts.

Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Laurence Gram Jr. scheduled a trial Jan. 27 and a pretrial hearing Jan. 13.

Dahmer entered not-guilty pleas on both the facts - whether he killed the 15 people he is charged with killing - and on the basis of insanity. But his lawyer, Gerald Boyle, told the court the defense may likely change the plea later, asking the court to find Dahmer committed the crimes, but was not guilty by reason of mental disease, or defect.

"I think there is a strong likelihood . . . that this case may proceed only on the not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect. But at this junction . . . we're not yet prepared to do that," Boyle said.

A man led police to Dahmer's apartment on July 22, saying he had been threatened there but had escaped. Police found remains of 11 victims. They said Dahmer later confessed to six other killings, all but one in Wisconsin. He has been charged with 15 killings.

If he is found sane, Dahmer would have to serve a mandatory term of life in prison for murder in Wisconsin. If found not guilty by reason of insanity, he would be sent to a mental hospital and could petition for his release every six months by trying to prove he was no longer mentally ill and no longer posed a threat to the public or to himself.

Dahmer, 31, a former candy-factory worker and Army veteran, has not been charged with a 1978 killing in Ohio because authorities are still trying to identify the victim's remains, or the murder of a boy at his grandmother's home because of lack of evidence.

According to the criminal complaint, Dahmer told police he killed most of his victims at his apartment after his release from jail in March 1990 on a child-molestation charge.