CARTER COMMITTED TO DEPARTMENT OF MENTAL HEALTH

October 16, 2009
Contact: [email protected]
(Anderson, SC). In a trial today in Oconee General Sessions Court, the
Honorable Alex Macaulay issued an order committing Jason Mark Carter to
the Department of Mental Health. In a bench trial requested by the
defendant, Judge Macaulay found Carter not guilty by reason of insanity of
the murder of his mother and stepfather, Debbie and Kevin Perkins. Carter
had undergone numerous mental evaluations by multiple psychiatrists and
received court-ordered medication since his arrest in March of 2006. Not
Guilty by Reason of Insanity is defined under SC Code Section 17-24-10 as
“…at the time of the commission of the act constituting the offense, the
defendant, as a result of mental disease or defect, lacked the capacity to
distinguish moral or legal right from moral or legal wrong or to recognize
the particular act charged as morally or legally wrong.”

Copies of the Order to Commit to Department of Mental Health, the final
mental evaluation, and Facts of the Crime as submitted to the Court are
attached.

“Our sympathy goes out to the family members and friends of these two
innocent victims, Debbie and Kevin Perkins. While this is not the outcome
we had hoped for, removing Jason Mark Carter from the community and
placing him in a secure facility, potentially for the rest of his life, will
provide a measure of safety to those family members, friends and to the
community as a whole.” Solicitor Chrissy Adams.