5 Sleepwalking Killers From Criminal History
By: Ben Kageyama
Tags: True Crime, Psychology, History, Nonfiction, Justice

Unresponsive, violent, deadly, and asleep — all words that describe unconscious killers afflicted with a bad case of somnambulism. The strange case of sleepwalking manslaughter is depicted in media all the time. We’re all too familiar with its tragic formula: husband clueless about his wife’s death, detective putting evidence together, and the husband breaks down upon the unraveling of the tragic circumstances.

Moreover, while the whole thing seems quite too farfetched to be true, court records prove that it’s quite more common than you think.

Here five cases from criminal history where a killer successfully used somnambulism (sleepwalking) as a defense.

1. Massachusetts v. Tirrell

The first-ever person to use sleepwalking as a defense was a man named Albert Terrell in 1846. Records from the case show that the victim was Tirrell’s own prostitute-lover from Boston.

She had her throat slit by Tirrell, and her companions found her almost decapitated in a burning bed. Witnesses saw Tirrell fleeing the scene, but the culprit was only finally arrested in New Orleans.

The killer’s family hired the best lawyer money could buy, and that resulted in his acquittal. Tirrell’s lawyer argued that the man had a history of sleepwalking and has historically committed violent acts upon his family while he was asleep. His cousins and siblings verified these claims.

While the public didn’t fully buy the argument, it was enough to prove his innocence to the jury. Thus, Massachusetts vs. Tirrell became the first known case of a successful sleepwalking defense in history.

2. Fain v. Commonwealth

The killer from this case had a somewhat comical though tragic situation.

In the 1870s, a man dozed off in the Kentucky Hotel lobby. When one of the staff members walked up to wake him up, the sleeping fellow drew his gun and fired three times at the man. The staff member pinned him to the floor but fell unconscious due to blood loss — eventually causing his death.

Witnesses report that, as this was all happening, the man was yelling, “Hoo-wee!” The shooter then got up, exited the lobby, and immediately confessed to a witness about the shooting. Later during the trial, the witness described that man was genuinely confused and sorry for what he had just done.

As a result of the witness’s testimony, the killer was found guilty of manslaughter instead of homicide. This decision was then repealed when it was brought to the higher court.

In acquitting the man, the court considered evidence of his habitual sleepwalking and the fact that he was sleep-deprived right before the attack on the staff member.

3. State v. Bradley

In the 1920s, Texas resident Isom Bradley was getting ready for bed with his mistress before an unexpected bloody event. He was on guard during the evening because of an earlier threat an enemy had made towards him. To sufficiently defend himself, he slept with his pistol under his pillow.

In the middle of his slumber, a loud noise woke him up, so he jumped and fired shots at the dark. When Bradley finally collected himself and turned on his lamp, he found his mistress slumped lifeless by the bed.

The trial court initially convicted Bradley of murder, but fortunately for him, his appeal for its reversal was successful. The higher court considered that Bradley might have been asleep when the shots were fired, making it a case of accidental sleepwalking death.

For me, that was definitely a stretch — perhaps manslaughter would have been a more appropriate charge.

4. Regina v. Parks

In 1987, a Canadian man named Kenneth Parks murdered his mother-in-law in a gruesome attack. According to witnesses, Parks rose from his bed and drove 14 miles into his in-laws' house. When they let him in, he suddenly strangled his father-in-law unconscious.

Parks then crept up on his mother-in-law and bludgeoned her with a tire iron. Before leaving, he stabbed both of them for extra-measure. While the man survived, his wife was less fortunate.

According to Parks, he was asleep during the entire episode, despite the complex tasks he accomplished. The moment he realized what had just transpired, he drove himself straight to the police to admit that he did something wrong — although he couldn’t fully remember what it was.

The police noted that Parks didn’t seem to realize that he had broken tendons in both his hands during the assault. This fact, plus a medical history of complex sleepwalking episodes, allowed experts to claim that Parks was unconscious and sleeping the entire time.

The courts bought their testimony, and Parks was acquitted of all charges.

5. State v. Brian Thomas

Ever since he was a child, Brian Thomas suffered from episodes of automatism and sleepwalking. When he turned 59, this condition proved to be deadly for his family.

In July of 2008, Thomas and his 57-year old wife Christine were on vacation in their camper van. One late evening, emergency services received a call from Thomas with him saying the following:

“What have I done? I’ve been trying to wake her. I think I’ve killed my wife. Oh, my God. I thought someone had broken in. I was fighting with those boys, but it was Christine. I must have been dreaming or something. What have I done?”

Thomas killed his wife in his sleep, mistaking her for being an intruder. The courts accepted his defense, and a judge made him a free man again in 2009.

Conclusion