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Jury Rules On Mental State Of Woman Who Decapitated Lover During BDSM

Taylor Schabusiness Jury Rules On Her Mental Illness Claims After Decapitating Lover During BDSM

[Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]

There’s been a very important update in Taylor Schabusiness‘ homicide trial.

If you’ve been following this truly gruesome case, you know the Wisconsin woman was found guilty of first-degree intentional homicide, mutilating a corpse, and third-degree sexual assault on Wednesday. This is for the horrific death of her lover, 24-year-old Shad Thyrion, whom she claims died when they were engaging in BDSM sex in his mother’s home on February 23, 2022.

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She told the jury she and the victim spent the day smoking meth before they started having rough sex at his mother’s home. When he allegedly started turning purple and began to cough up blood due to a “chain thing” they were using, she “didn’t stop.” Once he died, she admitted she “played with him a little bit” while chopping up his body. Shad’s mother ultimately found his severed head in a bucket in her basement. Cops then tracked down the 25-year-old and found her clothes covered in blood and “a crockpot with human remains, including legs” in her van. Just so disturbing.

After Taylor’s shocking testimony, the jury had no problem declaring she was guilty earlier this week, but there was still an outlying issue they needed to resolve. On Thursday, they were tasked with deciding whether or not she was mentally ill at the time of the crimes — and they came back with a verdict in less than an hour!

The jury decided she was NOT mentally ill at the time, meaning she is legally responsible for her lover’s murder.

Before their deliberation, the judge explained they had to answer two questions, the first of which was, did the defendant have a mental disease or mental defect? If they answered yes, they had to consider, “As a result of the mental disease or mental defect, did the defendant lack substantial capacity either to appreciate the wrongfulness of the conduct or to conform that conduct to the requirements of the law?”

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They answered no to the first question with no dissenting jurors — meaning they were all on the same page. If they had ruled otherwise, Taylor would have been sent to a mental institution instead of prison. Her sentencing is now scheduled for September 26.

And honestly, it doesn’t sound like this result will be a surprise to her. As we previously covered, during her testimony, the judge asked her:

“If somebody kills somebody and dismembers them, do you not think that person should go to jail?”

And she replied:

“Oh f**k yeah, this s**t was f**ked up.”

That said, she did have people fighting on her behalf. During this second phase of the trial, Schabusiness’ lawyer brought her father and a forensic psychologist to testify. Her father claimed Taylor had spent time in a psychiatric center in the past because she “wasn’t in the right state of mind.” He also noted he “always” had concerns about her physical and mental health and claimed she was put on meds for treatment in the past.

Meanwhile, the forensic psychologist, Diane Lytton, claimed Taylor was non-verbal during two of their meetings, and that in one meeting, she threw a chair at her. She also believed the suspect was psychotic. BTW, Taylor previously viciously attacked her former attorney during a competency hearing so these kinds of outbursts aren’t all that strange for her.

Her defense attorney Christopher Froelich went on to allege that she was “under a civil commitment order because she was mentally ill” in April 2021, but Brown County Assistant District Attorney Caleb Saunders reminded jurors they were only to evaluate her mental state when the killing occurred in February 2022. To fight back against these theories, the prosecution also called in a state expert who evaluated the woman and questioned a lot of her past diagnoses and behavior. Apparently, this was enough to convince the jury. You can watch Taylor hear the verdict (below):

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[Image via Law&CrimeNetwork/YouTube & Brown County Jail]

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Jul 28, 2023 15:32pm PDT