Hoyle sentencing underscores gap between legal and psychological ‘sanity’

Following a four-hour pre-sentencing hearing Friday, May 10, Warren County Circuit Court Judge Clifford L. Athey Jr. sentenced 34-year-old David Glynn Hoyle Jr. to 13 years of active incarceration for Second Degree Murder in the March 27, 2017 shooting death of 58-year-old Warren Ramsey. Hoyle was living with his mother, Wanda Horton, and Ramsey, her live-in boyfriend of eight years at the time of the shooting on Grand Avenue in Front Royal.

Initially charged with First Degree Murder, Hoyle faced 20 years to life in prison. However as part of a plea agreement with the commonwealth, Hoyle entered a guilty plea to Second Degree Murder. Second Degree Murder carries a sentencing range of five to 40 years. Suggested guidelines from the plea agreement carried an active incarceration range cap of 17 years on the high end to five years on the low. A second charge of use of a firearm in commission of a felony carrying a mandatory-minimum three year sentence was dropped as part of the plea agreement.

Athey prefaced his decision to sentence Hoyle to 30 years with 17 years suspended, followed by 10 years of supervised probation by citing mitigating circumstances presented by the defense team of Timothy Coyne and Ryan Nuzzo, particularly testimony from expert psychological witness Dr. William Stejskal, a clinical psychologist and forensic psychologist at the University of Virginia, School of Law; as well as earlier corroborating expert testimony from a Dr. Rawls.

That mitigating circumstance was a paranoid delusional state mimicking schizophrenia or bipolar disorder brought on by a misdiagnosis of Hoyle as bipolar from a psychiatrist whom testimony indicated has since lost her license to practice. That psychiatrist identified as Dr. Kumarappan of Falls Church at the time, prescribed extremely high doses of the drug Xanax to treat Hoyle as bipolar. More normal, lower doses of the drug are much less likely to cause the type of severe impacts Hoyle experienced, Stejskal testified. Of those severe impacts, Stejskal elaborated that they “duplicate psychotic symptoms”.

David Glynn Hoyle Jr. at the time of his March 27, 2016 arrest for Warren Ramsey’s murder; Hoyle was sporting the type of strap-on protective vest indicative of inmates believed to be a potential threat to themselves. Photos Courtesy of RSW Jail

Dr. Stejskal described the psychological problems David Hoyle has battled since childhood as a borderline personality disorder characterized by panic attacks, anxiety, depression and substance abuse. However, they are problems far short of the delusional characteristics of bipolar disorder, Stejskal testified.

On the stand Hoyle told the court he had dropped out of school in the ninth grade because he found high school “too overwhelming”. There were indications he had been bullied at earlier school levels. Other testimony indicated he had become addicted to opioids after having them prescribed following a car accident that resulted in a back injury. Hoyle also described an incident in which he was jumped and hit in the face resulting in the fracture of 97% of the orbital bone around one eye.

Hoyle expressed profound sorrow for Ramsey’s death both during his testimony and in a prepared statement to the court before sentencing. During direct examination Tim Coyne asked his client how he felt about what he had done – “I hate myself for what happened; I feel terrible. I just want to say to Warren’s family, I’m sorry, God I’m so sorry.”

In his prepared statement he told the court, “I am so sorry for the heartache and pain I have caused to my mother and Warren’s family … I am not that type of person, I still have terrible nightmares … I understand I cannot go unpunished. But I hope I can use the rest of my life to help people dealing with mental illness – I know some of these are high hopes but I will not give up on them.

“Please forgive me … Warren was a good man. He helped me at the worst time of my life. He never gave up on me … Give me more time to try to correct the wrongs I did – I can never make up for what I did. I just ask you to give me the opportunity to try …”

Defense counsel asked the court for the minimum five years of actual time served. It appears that Hoyle could be credited for the two years of time served though that was not directly addressed during sentencing. When Athey rendered his 13-years of active incarceration in prison decision, Hoyle’s mother who had quietly sobbed through much of the hearing bolted from the courtroom and surrounding family members in tears.

Earlier Hoyle’s mother Wanda, Hoyle’s older sister Candace Ramirez, younger sister Faith Horton, older brother Jason Hoyle and longtime friend Quentin Cancey all described David as a caring, respectful, helpful person who was not by nature violent at all.

However, those same family members and friend all testified to a profoundly negative change in Hoyle’s psychological state from late 2015 when he began see Dr. Kumarappan to the time of Ramsey’s death on March 27, 2017. That state was an increasingly profound paranoia that those around him, particularly Ramsey, were plotting against him; torturing him and perhaps planning to kill him.

Hoyle’s older brother Jason, who lives in New Jersey, gave 43 recorded phone messages to the defense submitted as evidence in the hearing from his brother describing in detail his delusion of being plotted against by family members in the household.

Hoyle’s older sister by two years, Ramirez, said by late 2016 she could no longer let her brother David around her children – “I didn’t recognize my brother” she testified of behavior that included banging a sledgehammer and scratching his face until it bled while looking for his prescription medication from the psychiatrist. She said she told her brother Jason she believed it was time to commit their younger brother.

Hoyle grapples with his situation and what he has done while still under influence of high doses of miss-prescribed medication that produced symptoms of psychosis, including paranoia, delusions and hallucinations.

Dr. Stejskal described Hoyle’s condition resulting from the overmedication with Xanax for a condition he did not have, including at the time he shot Ramsey, as a “medication-induced delirium” which he further defined as “an altered state of consciousness that impaired thinking, perceptions and induced hallucinations and paranoia.”

Coyne asked his client if he remembered shooting Warren Ramsey. Hoyle replied “flashes of it” including hearing his mother screaming and getting in a police car.

However, in arguing for the maximum 17 years of incarceration Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Anna Hammond pointed out that Hoyle did not meet the legal standard of insanity – “He knows what he did was wrong … He immediately knew what he did; he said he was sorry,” Hammond pointed out of Hoyle’s statements to police who responded to the scene and in an interview with Detective Landin Waller a short time after his arrest.

Asked by Waller what caused him to shoot Ramsey, Hoyle replied, “I was scared.”

“Why did you do it?” Waller pressed.

“He tortures me,” Hoyle said, adding that Ramsey abused him and his dog – “He’s only eight pounds,” Hoyle said of the dog. During her testimony, Hoyle’s mother said every time her son heard
the dog bark in another part of the house or yard he thought he was being tortured.

“Did he say something to you tonight or make you scared so you did this? What was the tipping point,” Waller asked of the shooting.

“I don’t know,” Hoyle whimpered in reply, adding, “He didn’t deserve to be shot. I didn’t want to shoot him.”

“He shot Mr. Ramsey a minimum of 10 times,” Hammond noted of Hoyle’s emptying the 9-mm semi-automatic pistol clip at Ramsey as he sat on a couch in a family room with his mother and what police described as “other family members” present.

Hammond also pointed to Hoyle’s history of illegal drug abuse and failed attempts at therapy at Northwestern Community Center. Could his admitted use of marijuana while on the high-doses of Xanax accentuated the negative impact of the drug on him, Hammond asked the court.

The assistant commonwealth’s attorney also presented Hoyle’s record at RSW Jail since his arrest on March 27, 2017, which included 43 behavioral incidents including fights with other inmates, failing to follow guard orders and making “hooch” which RSW Records Supervisor Sarah Fields testified is a homemade alcohol made by inmates out of leftover food.

Defense counsel Coyne countered that the 43 citations covered a period of 770 days in jail; that 10 complaints were written up by one guard and that in at least one of the two fights Hoyle was involved in, it was he who was struck first. During his testimony Hoyle said the fight in which he threw the first punch was with an inmate he had seen get into four previous fights leading him to believe his action was essentially a pre-emptive act of self defense.

Not a summer camp or a therapeutic center – RSW Regional Jail has been Hoyle’s residence for two years. He will now move into the state correctional system to serve the balance of a 13-year sentence. Royal Examiner File Photos/Roger Bianchini

“Did you ever threaten an officer?” Coyne asked his client during direct examination.

“No,” Hoyle replied, elaborating, “I did call an officer an asshole – I did do that. He was being cruel,” Hoyle added by way of explanation.

“This is a tragic, tragic case in many ways – he’s admitted it. But it must be viewed in the context of how it happened. There is so much pain that will not be taken away by time served. Clearly he does accept responsibility,” Coyne said in closing arguments.

Of the commonwealth’s argument that Hoyle had not followed up on therapy suggestions in the past, Coyne said, “No, he didn’t follow through on therapy – that is the behavior of an addict.
Hoyle’s family members all said they would be there for their son and brother to help him stay on the path of recovery outside prison walls, including staying away from non-prescribed drugs and accessing and maintaining the therapeutic help Dr. Stejskal recommended for Hoyle.

Younger sister Faith Horton, 23, said she had lived with David most of her life. She called him “the best big brother in the world” and said she would be his “biggest supporter” when he was released to see he got and maintained the psychological help Dr. Stejskal said would be of most benefit to Hoyle gaining and maintaining psychological stability. Such therapeutic help will not be available to Hoyle in Department of Corrections facilities, Dr. Stejskal pointed out.

Of Hammond’s pointing to Hoyle’s testimony that he was reluctant to be given new prescriptive medication, Coyne said, “He didn’t say he won’t take prescriptions in the future, he expressed a heartfelt fear because of what happened … proper treatment cannot be achieved in DOC (Department of Corrections), not at RSW,” defense counsel said of what is available to inmates in criminal detention facilities.

However, all of Hoyle’s family and friends who have maintained contact with him since his arrest pointed to a relative return to normal from being off the wrong medication and on properly prescribed medicine while at RSW Regional Jail.

So if not therapy, at least Hoyle’s drug intake will be carefully monitored while he is in prison. If given credit for his two years of time served, when released he will have 13 years of controlled medication behind him at age 45. Athey said he would leave an order on therapy during the 10 years of supervised probation up to the probation officer at the time of Hoyle’s release.

In prefacing his decision the judge said he took state sentencing guidelines very seriously as a means of assuring citizens across the commonwealth are treated equally for the commission of similar crimes.

“This was a tragedy getting ready to happen,” Athey said of the shooting death of Warren Ramsey at the hands of a young man he had been like a second father to. In particular the judge was referencing law enforcement and family testimony about a November 29, 2016 incident four months before the shooting leading to a police response to the home.

Hoyle had placed a 911 call that he was being held against his will at the family’s Grand Avenue residence. It took police seven to eight hours to talk Hoyle out of his room where he had barricaded himself against the imagined threats outside his door.

The Grand Avenue murder scene.

That incident led to a trip to Warren Memorial Hospital and the issuing of an Emergency Custody Order (ECO) to keep Hoyle under observation. He was shortly released to the custody of his father, David Glynn Hoyle Sr. who has since passed away, with a “safety plan”. However, testimony indicated he soon returned to Grand Avenue to live. And as the law apparently required under ECO parameters, his three pistols were returned to him.

And while two of those guns had been sold as requested by his family, and a third one was planned for sale, it was still in the home the evening of March 27, 2017, as was David Glynn Hoyle Jr.’s delusional paranoid state brought on by over-medication and misdiagnosis by a since-decertified psychiatric professional.