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NORRISTOWN — A Horsham Township woman accused of using a belt to fatally strangle her 11-year-old son as he slept in their home will wage an insanity or mental infirmity defense at her trial early next year, online court records revealed.
Ruth DiRienzo-Whitehead, through her lawyer Eugene P. Tinari, filed paperwork entitled “Notice of Defense of Insanity or Mental Infirmity and Notice of Expert Evidence of Mental Condition” in Montgomery County Court on Wednesday, according to public online criminal docket records.
However, the contents of that document were not available for public viewing as it was filed under confidentiality by Tinari.
During DiRienzo-Whitehead’s arraignment hearing last month, Tinari hinted that she was considering such a defense, adding the case has “always been about mental health and it will continue to be that going forward at the trial.”
But with Wednesday’s court filing, Tinari made it official that the mental health defense will be waged when DiRienzo-Whitehead stands trial on Feb. 12, 2024, on homicide-related charges in connection with the alleged April 11, 2023, strangulation death of her 11-year-old son, Matthew, inside the family home.
Under state law, defense lawyers must notify a judge and prosecutors about any insanity or mental infirmity defense strategy.
DiRienzo-Whitehead, 51, previously entered not guilty pleas to charges of first- and third-degree murder and possessing an instrument of crime before Judge William R. Carpenter.
Under state law, a person who is diagnosed as insane suffers from a mental defect that prevents them from knowing right from wrong or from realizing the nature and quality of their actions.
A person who is determined to be not guilty by reason of insanity at trial initially would be committed to a mental health facility for treatment and receive periodic evaluations. Once that person is deemed “cured” of mental illness they would be released from supervision with no requirement to serve any jail time.
Under state law, a person found guilty but mentally ill at a trial lacks substantial capacity either to appreciate the wrongfulness of their conduct or to conform their conduct to the law as a result of a mental disease. Such a conviction recognizes the incident was a product of criminality but also serious mental illness.
A person found guilty but mentally ill is sentenced to prison but is evaluated to determine if they suffer from mental illness and if so the offender receives treatment. When that person is deemed to have the mental illness under control, the offender must serve the balance of any sentence in prison in general population.
After her arrest, DiRienzo-Whitehead did undergo mental health evaluations before she made her first court appearance.
DiRienzo-Whitehead would face life imprisonment if she’s convicted of first-degree murder, which is an intentional killing.
A conviction of third-degree murder, a killing committed with malice, carries a possible maximum sentence of 20-to-40-years in prison.
Prosecutors Lauren Marvel and Gwendolyn Kull are handling the case.
DiRienzo-Whitehead allegedly told detectives she fatally strangled her son with a belt as he slept because she didn’t want him to grow up having to struggle with the family’s financial difficulties, according to court documents.
When detectives interviewed DiRienzo-Whitehead, she told them that she and Matthew went to bed at about 9:30 p.m. on April 10 and she “described that Matthew had been upset and crying off and on all day over the family’s financial difficulties,” according to the criminal complaint filed by Montgomery County Detective Heather Long and Horsham Township Detective Michael Peter.
“DiRienzo-Whitehead explained that she did not want Matthew to grow up with these struggles so she strangled him with her husband’s belt as he slept,” Long and Peter wrote in the arrest affidavit.
After allegedly killing the boy, DiRienzo-Whitehead drove the family vehicle to Cape May County, N.J., where she drove the vehicle onto Cove Beach and into the ocean. Once the vehicle was no longer operable, DiRienzo-Whitehead walked to Wildwood Crest where she was located by police there, according to court papers.
The investigation began about 7:06 a.m. April 11 when Horsham police responded to the Privet Road home for a report of an unresponsive child. Daniel Whitehead, the boy’s father, called 911 to report that his wife had killed the boy, according to the criminal complaint.
Detectives found the deceased child in the master bedroom of the home.
An autopsy by the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office determined that the cause of the boy’s death was ligature strangulation and the manner of death was ruled homicide.
Daniel Whitehead explained to detectives that his wife spent the night in the master bedroom with Matthew while he slept in another room, which he described as not unusual, according to the arrest affidavit.
Daniel Whitehead, according to court papers, told detectives that when he awakened on April 11 he noticed that the door to the master bedroom was locked and that his wife’s 2019 Toyota Highlander vehicle was missing from the garage.
“Whitehead forced entry into the master bedroom and discovered his deceased son,” Long and Peter wrote in the arrest affidavit.
Detectives who processed the scene observed ligature marks on the front and rear of Matthew’s neck as well as swelling to his face and obvious petechia to his eyes, according to court papers.
“All these observations are consistent with strangulation,” Long and Peter alleged.
While detectives were at the home, they received a call from prosecutors in Cape May who had located the Toyota vehicle partially submerged in the ocean just off Beach Avenue, according to court documents.
DiRienzo-Whitehead was not found with the vehicle but was taken into custody a short time later in Wildwood Crest, N.J.
Detectives subsequently searched the Toyota Highlander.
“On the front driver’s side floor of the vehicle, they recovered a black men’s dress belt,” Long and Peter wrote in the criminal complaint.
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