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Jury deliberates fate of man accused in office shootings

(Court TV) -- Michael McDermott shot down seven co-workers because of a "terrible disease that resulted in a terrible, terrible act," according to his lawyer's closing argument Monday.

But while defense lawyer Kevin Reddington said the 41-year-old former software tester was insane when he went on a shooting rampage in his Wakefield, Massachusetts, office, prosecutors told the jury that McDermott is "an angry, inflexible, rigid, self-centered narcissistic man" who should be convicted of first-degree murder.

"He executed those seven people -- no schizophrenia, no psychosis -- the world according to Michael," contended Assistant District Attorney Thomas O'Reilly.

A Massachusetts jury began deliberating the case at 1:16 p.m. Monday.

Back taxes McDermott owed to the IRS provided the motive for the December 26, 2000, shooting inside Edgewater Technology, O'Reilly claimed.

McDermott owed $5,586 and was told weeks before the shooting that money was going to be deducted from his paycheck until the debt was paid off, leaving him with about $275 every two weeks. Among the victims shot dead were employees of company's payroll and human resources departments, both of which were directly involved in garnishing McDermott's pay.

"He was on a mission -- 'They weren't going to take money out of my paycheck. They weren't going to get a penny,'" O'Reilly told the jury.

But according to Reddington, the only mission McDermott saw was a delusion produced by his mental illness. During the trial, the defendant testified he was commissioned by an archangel to stop the Holocaust in order to gain his soul, and that he believes he was gunning down Adolf Hitler and six Nazi generals. When captured, McDermott told police, "I don't speak German."

"He doesn't say, 'You'll never get my money,' 'I have been wronged' -- nothing, not a word," Reddington says. "This man is insane and was at the time of the killing."

Reddington even drew a comparison between his client and Jack Nicholson's character in the film "The Shining."

"This is up close and personal a very sick man," he said.

But the prosecution countered that McDermott concocted his defense after learning now to feign insanity on the Internet.

"He has to be in control," O'Reilly said. "He doesn't suffer fools gladly. There's no second chance with Michael McDermott."

Reddington detailed McDermott's history of suicide attempts and mental illness, dating back to his teen years. But O'Reilly also addressed McDermott's history -- including the defendant's admission on the stand that he researched how to fake mental illness.

"Michael McDermott was coping with life, coping with jobs, coping with the future until the IRS said, 'We want your money,' " O'Reilly said. "Michael McDermott was determined they weren't going to get a penny."

But Reddington countered that McDermott didn't learn how to appear insane, but rather learned how to appear normal in order to avoid being committed to a mental hospital.

"Michael McDermott did not need tips on how to be nuts," he said. "Michael McDermott needed tips on how notto look crazy."

Following closing arguments, Judge R. Malcolm Graham instructed the jury on the law. If the panel finds that he was insane, McDermott would be sent to a psychiatric hospital. If found guilty of first-degree murder, however, he faces life in prison. There is no death penalty in Massachusetts.