A man who claims he was insane when he travelled to suburban Houston and then fatally shot six members of his ex-wife's family, including four children, clearly understood that he was doing wrong, a prosecutor told jurors at the man's capital murder trial Wednesday.
Ronald Lee Haskell had been scheming for months to carry out the "cold-blooded execution" of the Stay family at their home in 2014, prosecutor Samantha Knecht said during closing arguments.
Authorities say Haskell wanted to hurt anybody who had helped his ex-wife following their divorce and that it was vengeance, not mental illness, that drove him to create a meticulous plan to achieve that goal. He travelled from California to suburban Houston and stalked the family of his ex-wife, Melannie Lyon, for two days before launching his attack.
Knecht said Haskell's actions before and after the shootings demonstrate he was not insane, including wearing a FedEx uniform to disguise himself so he could gain entry to the Stay family's home. After the shooting, he reloaded his gun and headed to the homes of other Stay family members so he could complete his plan, she said. He was arrested before reaching any other homes.