A man overturned a 20-year jail sentence for murder after a court ruled that delusions that his girlfriend was a demon while he strangled her were the first onset of schizophrenia.
Jordan Brodie Miller took LSD 11 days before violently attacking and killing his partner Emerald Wardle at a home in Metford, in the Hunter region of New South Wales, in June 2020.
He later told a triple zero operator and police that he believed Mrs Wardle was a demon at the time of the attack.
Jordan Brodie Miller (right) took LSD 11 days before violently attacking and killing his partner Emerald Wardle at a home in Metford, in the Hunter region of New South Wales, in June 2020.
Miller was found guilty of murder by a NSW Supreme Court jury in June 2022 and sentenced to a maximum of 20 years in prison, with a non-parole period of 13 years.
A key issue in the trial was whether he killed his girlfriend while experiencing symptoms of undiagnosed schizophrenia or drug-induced psychosis.
He appealed both the conviction and sentence, telling the New South Wales Court of Criminal Appeal that since the trial he had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and his symptoms continued.
On Friday, the court unanimously upheld the appeal saying all the evidence was “one-sided” that he had symptoms of schizophrenia when he killed Ms Wardle.
“The court is satisfied on the balance of probabilities that the plaintiff had a ‘mental health disability’, as defined, namely schizophrenia, at the time he carried out the act of killing Ms Wardle.” , the three-judge panel wrote.
“Although he knew the nature and quality of his acts in causing Ms Wardle’s death, he did not know that the act was wrong due to his psychotic delusion at the time.”
Miller was not found criminally responsible for the murder.
In overturning the conviction and lengthy jail sentence, the appeal court expressed its sympathy with Ms Wardle’s family (pictured).
Your case will be sent to the Mental Health Review Tribunal, which will determine how and where you will be treated.
In overturning the conviction and lengthy prison sentence, the appeal court expressed its sympathy towards Ms Wardle’s family.
“The court recognizes that the loss of Emerald Wardle has caused her family enormous pain from which they will never recover,” the judges wrote.
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