I'm surprised it took this long. Anyway, Anthony Fusco, the attorney for accused killer Jonathan Zarate, is going to be pursuing an insanity defense for his client.
Jonathan Zarate's lawyer, Anthony Fusco, told Judge Salem Vincent Ahto in Morristown that he plans an insanity defense and is in the process of hiring a forensic psychiatrist to examine the high school dropout. Fusco, a privately-paid lawyer, also plans to make a petition to the state Office of the Public Defender to help finance the cost of the evaluation.
Your tax dollars at work.
Correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't the insanity defense basically boil down to knowing the difference between right and wrong? If that's the case Zarate's actions of dismembering Jennifer Parks' body after killing her, hiding it in a trunk for 24 hours and then trying to dump the trunk in the Passaic river leads me to believe that he what he did was wrong.
From what I have read in the news coverage, this crime occurred after what appeared to me to be weeks if not months of preparation, luring Jennifer to let down her guard so she would be vulnerable. To me this whole story is sociopathy, not insanity. Sociopaths are fully aware of what they do but do not experience remorse. Zarate seems to have no regard for others, in fact he seems to have only contempt for others, as he demonstrated repeatedly in his vulgar behaviors prior to this crime and after he was in custody (details on other links off this same website).
I hope for justice to be done.