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Court wants new psychiatric check of convicted US murderer

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Brno, Dec 29 (CTK) – A Czech court of appeal has ordered a control psychiatric assessment of the sanity of Kevin Dahlgren, a U.S. citizen who was sentenced to life earlier this year for murdering his four relatives in Brno, daily Mlada fronta Dnes writes on Thursday.

According to the previous expert’s opinions, Dahlgren did not suffer from any serious mental disorder when the crime was committed, and therefore he was responsible for his conduct.

That is why he was sentenced to life imprisonment.

A new expert’s opinion, however, may challenge the verdict. If recognised insane, Dahlgren may end up in a psychiatric clinic instead of a detention facility.

His possible insanity was discussed by the lower-level court in Brno before. Dahlgren’s defence lawyer, Richard Spisek, said his client was mentally ill, which doctors in the USA also asserted upon his arrest in 2013.

Spisek proposed that a control expert’s opinion be completed, but the Brno court rejected the proposal and imposed a life sentence on Dahlgren based on the opinions of psychiatrist Milena Ziumlova and psychologist Beata Nour Mohammadi, who both said he suffered neither from psychosis nor any serious mental disorder when the crime was committed.

They said he suffers from a personality disorder, which, nevertheless, could not prevent him from controlling his behaviour.

“The High Court has complied with our request that a control psychiatric assessment be completed,” Spisek told MfD, reacting to the decision of the Olomouc-based court of appeal.

The new expert’s opinion will be completed by Jiri Svarc, head of the protective treatment ward at the Prague-Bohnice psychiatric clinic, by March 31, the daily writes.

In May 2013, then 20-year-old Dahlgren killed four members of a Czech family in Brno with whom he was staying temporarily. The victims were a man, a woman and their two sons including one underage. After stabbing them to death, he attempted to set some of the corpses on fire. Afterwards he fled to the USA, where, however, he was arrested immediately upon arrival.

Dahlgren has never confessed to the crime.

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