Teenager accused of killing twin sister says sleepwalking :: WRAL.com

By CNN Newsource

Houston – A teenager accused of murdering his twin sister says he was sleepwalking when it happened.

Benjamin Elliot, 17, is in police custody after being taken into custody for stabbing his sister, Meghan, to death.

At an initial court hearing, prosecutors said Elliott told investigators he sleepwalks, saying: “The accused said, after realizing he was not dreaming, he pulled out the knife … Turned on the bedroom light and applied pressure to the wound with a pillow. “

MPs found him performing CPR on his sister.

The defense of sleepwalking is rare but not unheard of.

In 2019, Raymond Lazarine used the defense in his Harris County, Texas murder trial for killing his wife. He was sentenced.

Kenneth Williams, a professor at South Texas College of Law, said Elliott would have an uphill battle if he chose the defense of sleepwalking.

“It is extremely difficult to prove because it is difficult to make a jury believe that he was sleepwalking and that he was not aware of what he was doing,” said Williams. “Now what would help him is if he had, for example, no motive to kill his sister… if there is a history of sleepwalking, that would help too.”

Lawyers advising the Elliott family said the siblings loved each other and got along well. They say Benjamin really had no idea he was stabbing his sister.

Neighbor Robert Dawson says he didn’t know the siblings well, but they seemed to get along.

“They get on a bus down here at the end of the street, and every day when they come home they walk … I mean, they don’t walk hand in hand, but they make you feel like ‘they’ I am very protective, ”he said.

Benjamin remains behind bars on a $ 100,000 bond.

Lawyers for the family say they are studying his medical history, trying to determine if he had any problems sleeping.

Williams says the family will have to convince a jury the teenager was unaware when he stabbed his sister for the sleepwalking defense to stand a chance.

“Anyone who commits an act while unconscious is not legally responsible for that act,” Dawson said. “We are only responsible for the actions we do if we are in a conscious mental state.”