WACO, Texas — A judge found Zachery McKee, who was accused of murdering a Waco AT&T employee in 2016, not guilty by reason of insanity in a hearing that lasted less than an hour Thursday.
Visiting Judge David Hodges accepted the insanity plea from McKee and ordered that he be committed to a maximum-security unit at the Austin State Hospital for 30 days before he is reevaluated for a subsequent hearing.
McKee, who was charged with first-degree murder for the death of 61-year-old Kenneth Cleveland, also waived his right to a trial by jury Thursday.
McKee confessed to killing Cleveland when he was arrested in 2018 but pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity at his hearing.
Cleveland died on April 22, 2016, after he was stabbed more than 20 times, beaten and set on fire in an alley where he was working. Waco police initially thought the cause of death was electrocution.
Arrest records said McKee provided details only someone with direct knowledge of the death would know during his confession. He also told detectives he was hearing voices that he believed belonged to God telling him to kill Cleveland.
Three mental health professionals evaluated McKee to determine his state of mind during the killing. Two determined that he was insane at the time and said he has schizophrenia and was experiencing paranoid hallucinations.
Cleveland’s daughter Pamela Mulbah spoke to the McKee during victim impact statements, calling him a monster. After the hearing, she said the judge's verdict did not feel like justice.
"I feel our family was robbed," Mulbah said. "There's no justice for my father being murdered. I do not think that he was insane. You'll never be able to convince me he was insane, and I think he needs to be in prison for life without parole."
Tom Needham with the DA's office said if found insane, McKee would be sent to a mental health facility where he could be held for the rest of his life.
In that case, a judge would make another ruling each year to determine whether he could still be a threat to the community and if he should stay committed to the facility.
Needham said in a case like McKee's, it's unlikely a court would ever find him not to be a threat to the community.
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