Haq pleads insanity in shootings

A man accused of opening fire at a Seattle Jewish charity last summer, killing one woman and wounding five others as he allegedly ranted about Jewish people, will raise an insanity defense in his trial in January.

Naveed Haq changed his plea Thursday to not guilty by reason of insanity on the 20 criminal charges he faces, including 11 new charges that King County prosecutors filed Thursday morning.

Haq's attorneys, C. Wesley Richards and John Carpenter, said Haq has a long history of mental illness, hospitalizations and suicide attempts. He has most consistently been diagnosed with bipolar disorder with psychotic features, which Richards called "a very debilitating type of mental disorder."

"Obviously, we believe it had a substantial impact on Mr. Haq's conduct," Richards said.

The attorneys also dispute that Haq committed a hate crime. Richards said Haq did not act "as a result of religious hatred."

For Haq to be found insane, jurors must agree that his mental illness made him either unable to perceive the nature of what he was doing or took away his ability to tell right from wrong.

In court Thursday, Superior Court Judge Paris Kallas ruled that prosecutors could have their own mental-health expert evaluate Haq at the King County Jail, where he remains without bail.

The Tri-Cities man is charged with aggravated murder, five counts of attempted murder, six burglary charges, six malicious-harassment charges -- the state's hate crime law -- as well as one kidnapping and one unlawful-imprisonment charge.

Deputy prosecutor Don Raz said the new charges "more accurately reflect the defendant's conduct" at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle and make it so that Haq, 31, faces one burglary charge and one hate-crime charge for each of the victims.

The unlawful-imprisonment charge added Thursday is for the allegation that he held Dayna Klein, a surviving victim who was pregnant when she was shot, as a hostage during the attack.

Killed in the July 28 shooting was Pamela Waechter, the charity's annual campaign director. Five of her colleagues were left recovering from gunshot wounds.