Pierce County man accused of stabbing his mother to death found not guilty by reason of insanity

Peter Talbot / The News Tribune (TNS)

A 32-year-old Tacoma man who stabbed his mother to death with a steak knife may have to spend the rest of his life in a state mental institution after being found not guilty by reason of insanity.

Michael Robert Gese was charged with premeditated and suspected murder following an attack on February 1, 2023, at his Central Tacoma home, where he lived with his mother, 66-year-old Gail Gese. The victim was a middle school teacher in the Kent School District.

Gail Gese called 911 that morning to report that her son was having a mental health crisis. According to Pierce County Superior Court records, Michael Gese stabbed his mother while she was on the phone and then fled the home in the 800 block of South Anderson Street. He was arrested that afternoon when police found him on Pacific Avenue.

A psychiatrist found the defendant competent to stand trial in October after Gese was sentenced to a 90-day inpatient stay at Western State Hospital. However, a psychologist also concluded that he was insane at the time of his mother's murder.

Judge Philip Sorensen accepted the defendant's plea of ​​not guilty by reason of insanity on August 16. According to court records, he concluded that Gese committed premeditated murder with a deadly weapon and that, due to mental disease or defect, he was incapable of knowing right from wrong with regard to the acts he was accused of.

In his most recently submitted psychological report dated July 29, a licensed psychologist concluded that at the time of the crime, Gese was suffering from persistent schizophrenia in an acute episode and a cannabis use disorder.

It was concluded that Gese posed a significant danger to himself and others and was likely to commit further crimes if he did not remain in an institution. Sorensen ordered that he be transferred to the custody of the Department of Social and Health Services. His confinement in a state mental hospital could last for his entire life, as life imprisonment is the maximum penalty for premeditated murder.

The News Tribune was unable to reach Gese's defense attorney for comment.

According to court records, Gese had no previous convictions for a crime. He was declared incompetent to stand trial in a harassment case in 2019 and was diagnosed with schizophrenia.

The defendant had been admitted to MultiCare Allenmore Hospital several times, including the night before his arrest in this case. According to his psychological evaluation, Gese came to the emergency room at around 7:40 p.m. with vomiting. He was given intravenous Zofran to combat nausea.

Gese reportedly became angry with staff and left the hospital around 9:30 p.m. before he could be further evaluated. His mother called 911 about nine hours later.

Gail Gese was a teacher at Cedar Heights Middle School. According to the Kent Community Foundation, the Gail Gese “Sunshine Scholars” Memorial Fund scholarship was created in her honor. In a Facebook post about the scholarship, the Covington middle school where she worked wrote that Gail Gese enriched the experience of everyone there.

“Gail dedicated her life to educating and inspiring students to reach their full potential,” the school wrote.

According to charging documents, the stabbing may have been prompted by a question about whether Michael Gese could continue to stay in his mother's house. He had lived in the house for more than a year and told Tacoma Police Department investigators after his arrest that his mother had asked him to move out, but he didn't want to because he would be homeless.

“He said he had to 'cut the robot's head off,' which he attempted to do, and stated that doing so would 'release him for work,'” prosecutors wrote in the probable cause document.

Investigators obtained surveillance video from the victim's home that allegedly shows the incident.

The mother was sitting on a sofa in the living room, calling 911, when Gese came out of the kitchen, the records say. The man jumped on the woman, stabbed her in the neck and then pushed her to the ground. He then ran out of the house and threw the knife on the sofa.

According to court records, Gese's father was not living in the home at the time. He had been admitted to St. Joseph Medical Center for assisted living in January 2023 due to a diagnosis of dementia.

Gese's mental health reportedly improved during an inpatient treatment at Western State Hospital in 2023. Dr. Michael Stanfill, a psychologist and clinical professor at the University of Washington, was appointed as a defense expert to evaluate Gese's competency to stand trial and his mental state at the time of the crime. According to court documents, Stanfill reported that Gese was in a more stable condition but seemed to have very little awareness of the unintended consequences of his actions.

Stanfill wrote that Gese was aware of the basic facts of his actions, but was guided by deep-rooted delusions.

“In reality, he did not 'decapitate a robot from a simulated reality,' but rather stabbed his mother in the neck, ultimately leading to her death,” Stanfill wrote.

“Even now, when asked directly about his delusional process, Mr. Gese reports that he was actually an 'elitist' and achieved this status due to his actions in eliminating the robot. In addition, he harbored the delusion that the robot's consciousness was being transferred to an NSA monitor.”

According to his most recent psychological evaluation, Gese's psychiatric treatments began at the age of 13 or 14. At that age, he was diagnosed with depression and attended therapy for a short period. At the age of 14, Gese used cannabis for the first time and reported that it made him feel somewhat paranoid.

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