Former philosophy professor who sent threatening manifesto found not guilty by reason of insanity
Police arrested a former UCLA philosophy lecturer after he circulated an 802-page manifesto pledging mass violence.
AMANDA PAMPURO / September 19, 2024
DENVER (CN) — In a brief bench trial Thursday, a federal judge found a former UCLA philosophy lecturer who circulated an 802-page manifesto threatening mass violence in 2022 not guilty by reason of insanity.
“Based on these stipulated findings of fact I find by clear and convincing evidence that at the time of the event, Mr. Harris was unable to appreciate the nature and quality of the wrongfulness of his acts,” U.S. Judge Regina Rodriguez said.
According to federal prosecutors, on Jan. 31, 2022, Matthew Harris shared a Google Drive link to an 803-page manifesto titled “Death Sentences,” with 35 individuals named. The manifesto made a variety of threats, employing the word "kill" 7,512 times, "shoot" 2,512 times, and "bomb" 2,489 times.
Harris previously taught philosophy at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Beginning in 2021, he sent his mother an email describing plans to murder another philosophy professor who he claimed gave him schizophrenia. Harris’ mother informed the UCLA philosophy department that her son was mentally ill. In April 2021, UCLA police issued a threat warrant and he was detained in North Carolina and hospitalized for one month.
In June 2021, a restraining order was filed against Harris banning him from California college campuses and from possessing weapons for three years. He moved to Boulder, Colorado, that summer. That November, prosecutors say, he obtained a Colorado state driver’s license and attempted to buy a “bodyguard revolver” at the Silver Bullet Shooting Range in Wheat Ridge, Colorado.
The purchase was denied.
After being taken into custody in February 2022, Harris faced two counts of threats in interstate commerce, as well as one count of making a false statement to a firearms dealer and one county of unlawfully possessing ammunition.
Harris initially pleaded not guilty in February 2022 and was deemed incompetent to stand trial in January 2023.
Defense attorneys submitted two reports from psychiatrists who agreed on Harris’ mental state in early 2022. Prosecutors introduced no witnesses and declined to make an oral argument, standing on their briefs.
“The defendant is not guilty by reason of insanity of counts one through four of the indictment,” Rodriguez said.
The Joe Biden appointee described thanked the parties for coming to an amicable solution and ordered Harris to be hospitalized and evaluated.
U.S. Attorney Alison Connaughty, who led the prosecution, declined to comment on the case.
Outside the Alfred Arraj U.S. Courthouse in downtown Denver, Harris’ attorneys described the case as the justice system working.
“It was a fair verdict and we hope Mr. Harris gets the treatment he needs,” said defense attorney Edward Robinson, who practices out of Torrance, California. “There was absolutely no evidence to the contrary of his mental state and the verdict was agreed on by all parties.”
