URBANA — A court-appointed psychiatrist determined this month that the Urbana man charged with fatally shooting the manager of a downtown Champaign bar earlier this year was insane when he allegedly pulled the trigger.
The professional opinion, delivered by the county’s lead forensic psychiatrist, Dr. Lawrence Jeckel, opens the possibility that Fidele G. Tshimanga, 25, will be found not guilty by reason of insanity in the Feb. 17 death of Brandon Hardway.
Mr. Hardway, manager at Pour Bros. Craft Taproom, was outside the bar on Feb. 8 when Tshimanga approached him and shot him at point-blank range with a firearm that was stolen out of a parked car in Savoy three months prior, State’s Attorney Julia Rietz previously said.
Hardway was taken to an area hospital and died about a week later, leading Rietz to file charges of first-degree murder against Tshimanga on Feb. 21.
Jeckel determined that Tshimanga is mentally fit to stand trial — a legal condition that indicates he is able to understand the nature of the court proceedings and assist his attorney, Chief Public Defender Elisabeth Pollock, in his defense.
But insanity differs from fitness, and is determined retroactively if a defendant shows they could not substantially appreciate the criminality of their conduct during the time they committed an offense. In Champaign County, the two evaluations are often ordered together.
On Tuesday, Judge Randy Rosenbaum granted a motion from Assistant State’s Attorney Scott Larson for Tshimanga to be evaluated by a second forensic psychiatrist from Springfield. The court will consider the second opinion at a June 26 hearing.
If the second psychiatrist disagrees with Jeckel’s evaluation and finds that Tshimanga was not insane when he allegedly shot Mr. Hardway, the case will proceed to trial on whether Tshimanga was able to appreciate the criminality of his conduct that day.
“It’s an important case, and we want to make sure we’re not missing anything before we move forward,” Larson said after the hearing.
When Judge Brett Olmstead ruled Feb. 14 that Tshimanga must be held in jail ahead of his trial, he cited evidence that indicated Tshimanga was suffering under delusions leading up to the shooting.
Tshimanga allegedly admitted to police after he was arrested that he smashed a woman’s phone on Feb. 5 in the Illinois Terminal in downtown Champaign because he thought she was talking about him and that people were “spreading things” about him on their phones. He also brandished a gun at the woman’s 13-year-old son, Rietz said.
If found not guilty by reason of insanity, Tshimanga will be evaluated by the Illinois Department of Human Services and transferred to a state forensic hospital for treatment.
If Tshimanga is found to have not been insane and is convicted of first-degree murder, he faces 20 to 60 years in prison.
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