Christian Costello, the man accused of fatally stabbing his father, Oklahoma Labor Commissioner Mark Costello, has attempted to plead guilty to his father's slaying. However, at the request of the younger Costello's attorney, Oklahoma County District Judge Ray Elliott has ordered a mental competency exam to determine whether or not the defendant understands the nature and consequences of the plea.
When Costello pleaded guilty to first degree murder in his father's death, he told Judge Elliott that he would prefer to be sent to a prison facility near the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. Costello, who has a documented history of mental illness, says that a doctor who treated him at the Clinic when he was a teenager made him a 32nd degree Mason (referring to the "secret society" of freemasons) and promised to help him out whenever he needed it.
Judge Elliott informed the defendant that he did not have jurisdiction to send him to a Minnesota prison or to choose the prison to which Costello would be sent if he accepted the defendant's guilty plea, and that the prison is selected by the Department of Corrections.
Costello's public defender said he was taken aback by his client's request, noting that while the doctor mentioned does exist, he has no idea whether or not the physician would even remember Costello. Citing the defendant's request, the defense lawyer said, "That just kind of compounds my concern that these delusions prevent him from making a rational determination to enter a plea of guilty."
Judge Elliott granted the defense request and ordered a mental competency exam for Christian Costello.
The public defender insists that his client is mentally incompetent, severely mentally ill, and was legally insane at the time of the attack on his father at a Northwest Oklahoma City Braum's. However, his client refuses to authorize the insanity plea in his defense.
A hearing regarding the status of the mental competency exam is scheduled for August 10.
The insanity defense is seldom used in criminal defense because it is often unsuccessful. However, if the defense can prove that a person did not know right from wrong at the time of the murder, then the person would not be convicted, but found not guilty by reason of insanity. The person would then be housed at the Oklahoma Forensic Center in Vinita. The Forensic Center is also where defendants are sent who are mentally incompetent to stand trial.
