Jarrod Wyatt to Face First Degree Murder, Aggravated Mayhem and Torture Charges

I really don't have much to say or add concerning Jarrod Wyatt's alleged actions that occurred while he was allegedly under the influence of "magic" mushrooms, but since this is a legal blog devoted to fighting issues and since Wyatt is a professional MMA fighter (1-0 record), I will just provide updates on this ridiculous (super bizarre) matter.

For those of you who don't know, Wyatt was allegedly under the influence of mushrooms with his girlfriend and two other individuals when things went horribly wrong.  According to this article, Wyatt believed that Powell was acting "aggressively" towards his girlfriend and thought Powell was the devil.  Things went downhill from there: 

When sheriff’s deputies arrived at the residence, they found Wyatt naked and covered in blood in the living room with Powell’s body. Powell died as a result of blood loss due to having his heart cut out, according to his death certificate and testimony at Wednesday’s preliminary hearing. He was also choked and beaten before he died, and other parts of his body were mutilated.

According to the article, Wyatt's attorney raised a number of arguments to either get the murder charge reduced and/or get rid of the torture charge--all of these efforts were rejected.

First, Wyatt's lawyer tried to have the charge reduced to manslaughter because (he claimed) Wyatt's actions were in reaction to Powell's "aggressive" acts towards Wyatt's girlfriend (the old crime of passion/heat of passion murder):

'I think those are reactive acts for what he saw going on with his lady friend and this guy,' Fallman [Wyatt's attorney] said, adding that it would be similar to a husband walking into his bedroom to find his wife with another man and killing him without any premeditation. 'This is a manslaughter-like thing.'

Wyatt's attorney also argued that the torture charge should be dismissed because he claimed the mutilation happened while Powell was unconscious. 

Judge Follett rejected Fallman’s argument that because Powell was unconscious and therefore couldn’t feel anything before he died that the torture charge should be dismissed. The attorney also tried to present Wyatt’s state of mind as a result of the mushrooms to be a factor in reducing the murder charge.  'My client was trying to silence the devil,” Fallman said. 'I think he was having a psychotic fit based on the mushrooms he had.'

This argument was rejected as well.

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