Stayner Looking For Insanity Plea

Lawyers for Cary Stayner, the man accused of killing three Yosemite sightseers, want the judge to allow an insanity defense.

Defense attorney Marcia Morrissey says Stayner had a hard time differentiating between, as she wrote, “the real and the imagined” when he allegedly killed the women in 1999.

Stayner has confessed to killing 42-year-old Carole Sund, her 15-year-old daughter Juli and 16-year-old Argentine family friend Silvina Pelosso.

Stayner is already serving a life sentence for beheading Yosemite park naturalist Joie Ruth Armstrong that same year. He could face the death penalty in the upcoming trial.

Judge Thomas C. Hastings is expected to rule on allowing an insanity defense next week. He´s also expected to decide where the trial will take place.