FORT COLLINS, Colo. — A man has been committed to Colorado Department of Human Services custody after he was found not guilty by reason of insanity for a 2021 murder, prosecutors said.
Victor Corwin, 31, was charged in the murder of Christopher Johnson, 39. Johnson was shot and killed outside a McDonald's on South College Avenue in Fort Collins on July 19, 2021.
Earlier this year, Corwin was found not guilty by reason of insanity. Prosecutors said that's "a legal determination which means the defendant did commit the crimes charged and would be found guilty but for the legal requirement to prove he was sane beyond a reasonable doubt and unanimous to a jury."
Prosecutors said investigators were unable to find any motive in the murder.
"Fort Collins Police Services, the District Attorney’s Office, and other assisting agencies investigated the case for over two years since the murder and followed every thread searching for evidence of any connection between Mr. Corwin and Mr. Johnson or any motive in the murder," the 8th Judicial District Attorney's Office said in a news release. "The totality of the evidence showed that Mr. Corwin had no previous connection to Larimer County or Mr. Johnson and chose to commit the murder spontaneously and at random due to paranoid delusions stemming from a diagnosis of unspecified schizophrenia."
Prosecutors said Corwin will be committed, indefinitely, to the state hospital, which is a secure custodial facility. The Colorado Department of Human Services will determine when, and if, he is ever eligible for release. Prosecutors said he may remain in custody for the rest of his life.
“My heart breaks for the Johnson family,” District Attorney Gordon McLaughlin said at the sentencing hearing. “The randomness and senselessness of this case makes it incredibly difficult for them to find closure. While the right legal result was reached in this case, I share the family’s belief that the state hospital will need to maintain custody of Mr. Corwin for the remainder of his life to protect the community.”
Family members made statements in court, remembering Johnson as a son, brother and father, and as a veteran who “felt a duty to serve in the Army” after the Sept. 11 attacks, and fought in the war in Iraq.
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