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Shade's Live Action Role Playing (LARP) List: Forums
Shade's LARP List :: View topic - Tyler County man uses pocket knife to fight medieval re-enac
A Tyler County man with prior convictions was sentenced Thursday to 30 of a possible 99 years in prison after he was found guilty of aggravated assault.
George Dana, 40, was found guilty on one aggravated assault charge and still faces two others. He will be eligible for parole in 18 to 20 years.
On March 5, 2010, a group of people from Amptgard - an organization dedicated to the recreation of the sword and sorcery genre, according to its website - rented campground space in Colmesneil where Dana lived at the time, said his attorney, Ryan Gertz.
When they started a mock jousting match using foam-padded replicas of medieval weaponry in front of Dana's trailer, Gertz said Dana - who often has delusions that people are out to get him - believed the group was after him.
Dana told his then fiancée he would create a diversion, and told her and his daughter to leave the trailer, Gertz said.
Dana started a fight with the group. He stabbed two people and cut a third with a small pocket knife, Gertz said.
Prosecutors suggested that methamphetamines amplified Dana's delusions. Gertz unsuccessfully argued a not guilty by reason of insanity defense.
The Texas Code of Criminal Procedure bars attorneys and the court from informing jurors of what will happen to a defendant if they are found not guilty by reason of insanity.
What that means, Gertz said, is that the defense, the prosecutors and the judge cannot tell a jury that if they find the defendant not guilty by reason of insanity, the defendant will be sentenced to a state mental hospital.
Jurors might be unaware of that, Gertz said, and that could affect their decisions.
They might think if the defendant is found not guilty, he or she will be released and could potentially be a threat to society, he said.
Gertz said he objected to not being able to inform jurors, but the judge overruled it.
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