A 32-year-old Tacoma man who used a steak knife to fatally stab his mother may spend the rest of his life in a state mental hospital after he was declared not guilty of the murder by reason of insanity.
Michael Robert Gese was charged with first- and second-degree murder following the Feb. 1, 2023, attack at the Central Tacoma home he lived in with his mother, 66-year-old Gail Gese. The victim was a middle school teacher in the Kent School District.
Gail Gese called 911 that morning and reported that her son was having a mental health crisis. According to Pierce County Superior Court records, Michael Gese stabbed his mother while she was on the phone, then fled the home in the 800 block of South Anderson Street. He was arrested that afternoon when officers found him on Pacific Avenue.
A mental health professional found the defendant to be competent to stand trial in October after Gese was ordered to undergo up to 90 days of inpatient competency restoration at Western State Hospital, but a psychologist also determined he was legally insane at the time of his mother's murder.
Judge Philip Sorensen accepted the defendant's plea of not guilty by reason of insanity Aug. 16. According to court records, he concluded that Gese had committed first-degree murder with a deadly weapon, and that he was unable to tell right from wrong in regard to the acts he was accused of due to a mental disease or defect.
In his most recently filed psychological evaluation dated July 29, a licensed psychologist gave the opinion that at the time of the offense Gese was suffering from schizophrenia, continuous, in an acute episode and cannabis-use disorder.
Gese was determined to be a substantial danger to himself or others and likely to commit more crimes unless kept institutionalized. Sorensen ordered him committed to the custody of the Department of Social and Health Services. His commitment to a state mental hospital could last for his entire life because life in prison is the maximum penalty for first-degree murder.
The News Tribune was unable to reach Gese's defense attorney for comment.
According to court records, Gese had no prior felony convictions. He had previously been found incompetent to stand trial in 2019 in a misdemeanor harassment case and was diagnosed with schizophrenia.
The defendant had been admitted to MultiCare Allenmore Hospital on several occasions, including on the evening before his arrest in this case. According to his psychological evaluation, Gese arrived at the emergency department at about 7:40 p.m. complaining of vomiting. He was given Zofran intravenously to prevent nausea.
Gese reportedly became irate with staff and left the hospital at about 9:30 p.m. before he could be further examined. His mother called 911 about nine hours later.
Gail Gese was a teacher at Cedar Heights Middle School. The Gail Gese "Sunshine Scholars" Memorial Fund Scholarship has since been created in her memory, according to the Kent Community Foundation. In a Facebook post about the scholarship, the middle school where she worked in Covington wrote that Gail Gese made everyone's experience there brighter.
"Gail dedicated her life to education and inspiring students to reach their full potential," the school wrote.
An issue over whether Michael Gese could continue to stay at his mother's house might have led to the stabbing, according to charging documents. He'd lived at the home for more than a year, and after his arrest he told Tacoma Police Department detectives that his mother had asked him to leave, but he said he didn't want to because he would be homeless.
"He said that he had to 'Pop the robot's head off,' which he was trying to do, stating that would 'release him for work,' " prosecutors wrote in the probable cause document.
Detectives obtained surveillance video from inside the victim's house that reportedly showed what happened.
The mother was on a couch in the living room talking with 911 when Gese approached from the kitchen, records state. The man was seen jumping on the woman, stabbing her in the neck and then pushing her to the floor. He then ran from the house and threw the knife onto the couch.
According to court records, Gese's father wasn't living at the home at the time. He'd been admitted to the St. Joseph Medical Center in January 2023 for assisted living care for a dementia diagnosis.
Gese's mental health reportedly improved during inpatient treatment at Western State Hospital in 2023. Dr. Michael Stanfill, a psychologist and a clinical professor at the University of Washington, was appointed as a defense expert to determine Gese's ability to stand trial and his mental state at the time of the crime. According to court records, Stanfill reported that Gese was in a more stable state but appeared to have very limited awareness of the unintended consequences of his actions.
Stanfill wrote that Gese was aware of the basic facts of his actions, but he held entrenched delusional beliefs that guided him.
"He did not in fact, 'pop the head off a robot' from a simulated reality, but instead stabbed his mother in the neck, ultimately resulting in her death," Stanfill wrote.
"Even now, when directly asked about his delusional process, Mr. Gese reports that he was in fact an 'elitist' and was elevated to that status due to his actions of disposing of the robot. Additionally, he held a delusional belief that the robot's consciousness would be moved to an NSA monitor."
Gese's history of mental health treatment reportedly dated back to when he was 13 or 14 years old, according to his most recent psychological evaluation. Gese reported being diagnosed with depression at that age and participated in counseling for a brief time. Gese also used cannabis for the first time at age 14, and he reported experiencing some paranoia from it.
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