ABINGDON, Va. — A Massachusetts man has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity in the death of an Appalachian Trail hiker and attacking another hiker with a hunting knife.
WDBJ reports James Jordan of West Yarmouth, Massachusetts, was accused of the fatal stabbing of 43-year-old Ronald Sanchez Jr., of Oklahoma City, and wounding a female hiker in Virginia in May 2019.
Jordan will be committed indefinitely to a psychiatric facility within the Bureau of Prisons.
Jordan waived his right to trial by jury and an additional evaluation. Judge James Jones accepted the plea on Thursday at the federal courthouse in Abingdon.
