> # Williams not guilty by insanity

> KALAMAZOO (NEWS 3) – A man accused of beating to death a University of Michigan student has been found not guilty by reason of insanity. Kalamazoo Judge William Schma rendered the verdict Wednesday.

> Brian Williams of Ypsilanti was charged with first-degree murder for beating Kevin Heisinger, 24, to death inside a bathroom at the Kalamazoo train and bus terminal last August. Williams told police that voices in his head commanded him to attack Heisinger.

> Judge Schma cited Williams’ long mental history and believed Williams had a mental condition at the time of the incident.

> Heisinger’s family was outraged by the judge’s decision. “He’ll be out of here and when he’s out, he’s going to kill again,” the victim’s father Charles Heisinger told reporters. “Next time, he’s going to kill one of your people, not ours.”

> Williams will be taken to the Center for Forensic Psychiatry in Ypsilanti. A hearing in 60 days in Kalamazoo County Probate Court will determine if Williams will continue his stay at the center or whether another course of treatment will be necessary.

> Williams could be released at some point in the future.

> Prosecutors had sought a ruling of guilty but mentally ill for Williams. That would have left him confined to an institution or prison for the rest of his life.

> # Bill proposed in memory of train station murder victim

> By Kelcey Carlson, News 3 Reporter

> KALAMAZOO (NEWS 3) - A West Michigan lawmaker wants a new law named in Kevin Heisinger’s memory. Representative Tom George wants to loosen the standards in which a mentally ill person could be committed.

> Heisinger, a graduate student at the University of Michigan, was murdered in Kalamazoo last August inside a bathroom at the train and bus station. Police say he was beaten to death by Brian Williams, a schizophrenic who had failed to take his medicine.

> George and a Lansing legislator are drafting a bill that’s based on a New York law that followed a similar murder case.

> George plans to unveil the bill on the anniversary of Heisinger’s murder in August. “I think our hope is that by changing the law we’ll prevent this tragedy from happening again,” George said.

> The current law requires a mentally ill person to exhibit dangerous behavior or show that they can’t take care of their basic needs in order to be committed. George wants the standard to include those mentally ill patients who aren’t compliant with the law or their treatment conditions also.