Oronoco Man Acquitted Of Knife Attack Due to Mental Illness

Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News) - An Oronoco man charged with attacking two people with a knife has been found not guilty due to mental illness.

An Olmsted County judge returned the not guilty verdict today in the case of 58-year-old Kurt William Phelps. He had been charged with two counts of second-degree assault in connection with the incident at a residence in Oronoco in the early morning hours of March 9, 2022.

According to the criminal complaint, Olmsted County deputies responded to the home after dispatchers received a call from a man who said his son had been stabbed. The court document says the dispatcher indicated the caller spoke erratically and identified himself as Poseidon.

When they arrived at the scene, the deputies learned there were two victims who had fled the house with knife wounds. The criminal complaint says Phelps was found inside the house and was arrested about three hours later after he emerged covered in blood stains.

The court records indicate one of the victims woke up to the sound of screaming and found Phelps assaulting the other victim with a 10 inch knife. When she intervened, the woman told deputies that Phelps cut her, resulting in an "8 inch buried deep cut that was actively bleeding" on her arm.

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The criminal complaint says the other victim had been stabbed in the lower right side of the chest. Both victims were transported to the hospital for treatment of what were described as non-life-threatening wounds.

The court order stating that Phelps was acquitted by reason of mental illness indicates a court appointed expert found he was suffering from a schizoaffective disorder at the time of the knife attacks that left him unable to appreciate "the wrongfulness of his behavior."

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