Murder suspect still in mental limbo

MICHAEL KIEFER

Michael Crane is charged with murdering three people in two separate attacks in January 2012.

Prosecutors would like to have him sentenced to death.

But even after nearly six years, the judge in the case has been unable to rule whether Crane, 37, is mentally competent to stand trial. Prosecutors say he is. His attorneys say he is not.

On Friday, Crane stood before Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Warren Granville. He wore jailhouse stripes, shackles and belly chains. His head was shaved. His black Van Dyke beard appeared sharpened to a point. His eyes blazed wildly.

Granville had barely completed three sentences to start the hearing before Crane exploded, accusing Granville and the prosecutors of being “inside my brain all the time” and screaming profanities.

What that meant is anyone’s guess. He ranted for several more minutes before Granville had him removed from the courtroom.

It was a typical hearing for Michael Crane.

Since his arrest, Crane’s behavior has been consistently bizarre and disruptive. He initially wanted to defend himself, offering imaginary legal theories as to why the courts have no jurisdiction over him, but Granville would not allow it.

His mother, Nancy Christie, who attended Friday’s hearing, says he has been mentally troubled since he was a child, suffering from night terrors, frantic sleepwalking and episodes in which he seemed possessed, even unable to move.

She says he suffers from schizoaffective disorder, which combines aspects of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. And she says he has gotten sicker as he has been in custody.

The crimes he has been charged with are horrible: He is accused of murdering Paradise Valley philanthropists Glenna and Lawrence Shapiro in their home during a robbery in January 2012. They were bound and then shot in the head before their house was set afire.

Four days earlier, a Phoenix cigar maker named Bruce Gaudet was found murdered in his Phoenix condo.

Crane was charged in that murder as well.

He was already under suspicion in several burglaries and other crimes when he was arrested in the two murder cases.

He is now charged with three counts of first-degree murder, three counts of kidnapping, three of arson, four of armed robbery, six of burglary and one count each of car theft, misconduct with weapons, attempted second-degree murder, aggravated assault, theft and attempted burglary.

Several of his accomplices already have been convicted for their parts in the crimes.

But Crane has made it impossible for the state to take him to trial.