ALBANY, Ore. (AP) -- Lawyers for a Linn County man accused of murder are arguing that he stabbed his mother in the neck because years of methamphetamine use led to a psychotic break.
Defense lawyers say there's no dispute about what happened on Oct. 23, 2009, only a question of the mental health of 33-year-old Josh Lee Shaddon.
Shaddon is accused of killing 48-year-old Gerlene Thorne in their Brownsville home, south of Albany. The Albany Democrat-Herald reports the prosecution rested Monday after arguing that Shaddon wasn't delusional.
Defense lawyers called mental health workers and a drug and alcohol counselor to buttress their argument that he used meth from age 16 until a few months before the killing, and he couldn't always know what was real and what wasn't.
