Man who killed his mother by strangulation in Euless found insane, not guilty
A state district judge has found a man who was indicted on murder in the asphyxiation of his 67-year-old mother in her Euless bedroom not guilty by reason of insanity.
Sean McGuire was acquitted on Friday in the November 2019 strangulation killing of Betty McGuire.
The Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Office agreed to McGuire’s plea. The agreement is an acknowledgement that the defense could prove by a preponderance of the evidence that severe mental disease or defect caused McGuire not to comprehend that the killing was wrong.
A Euless Police Department detective who tried to interview McGuire at a jail just after the homicide found him naked and swimming in human waste.
In Criminal District Court No. 3 in Tarrant County, Judge Doug Allen ordered that McGuire, who is 50, be transferred from a jail to a maximum security unit in the state hospital system.
Clinical psychologists concluded after exams in the six years since his arrest that McGuire was incompetent to stand trial. About a month ago, a psychologist found that McGuire was competent.
McGuire killed his mother by squeezing her neck with his hand or arm, the district attorney’s office alleged in the indictment. He also struck her with his hand and kicked her.
On Nov. 8, 2019, police officers went about 2:30 a.m. to Betty McGuire’s house in the 200 block of Jefflyn Court in Euless.
Her grandson had summoned the officers and reported that someone whom the boy did not know was inside the house, Euless Police Department Assistant Chief Brenda Alvarado said in an interview with a reporter.
As officers met with Betty McGuire’s grandson outside, Sean McGuire walked out of the house.
Sean McGuire had dried blood on both of his hands and scratch marks on his body, Alvarado said.
Betty McGuire, who had blood on her hand, was unconscious. She was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead there.
An officer placed Sean McGuire, who lived at a different location, in Fort Worth, under arrest.
Later, at a jail, a detective told McGuire that his mother had died. McGuire had a blank expression and no reaction, Alvarado said.
Judge Allen will review state hospital assessments of McGuire’s psychological status. He would be discharged from commitment, treatment and supervision if a judge ever finds that attorneys who represent McGuire establish by a preponderance of the evidence that he no longer has a severe mental illness or is not likely to cause serious harm to another because of any severe mental illness.
Assistant District Attorneys Ron Wright and Kyle Gibson represent the state in the case. Defense attorneys Kevin Rousseau and Kelly Meador represent McGuire.
