Barry Jordan, the accused pervert whose red-light-running spree in 2011 resulted in a crash that killed an 11-year-old girl, has been found guilty but insane.
The decision by Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Dawn Bergin means that Jordan will be incarcerated at the Arizona State Prison for a term yet to be set. He'll be under the jurisdiction of the Psychiatric Security Review Board, which may decide at some point that Jordan is no longer a danger to anyone and release him. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for August 30.
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Jordan's maniacal drive the morning of February 19, 2011, caused a horrific crash in northeast Phoenix that shattered many lives.
The then-46-year-old Scottsdale man was hauling a fully loaded cargo trailer with his pickup when he made the decision to start running red lights as he barreled west down Cactus Road at high speed.
At the intersection of Cactus and Paradise Village Parkway, Jordan's truck slammed into a Honda driven by Melia Shumaker, who was traveling south on a green light. The impact killed Shumaker's daughter, Destiny "Bean" Kimble, and put Shumaker and her 15-year-old son, Riley Beckwith, in comas with severe injuries. The drivers of two other vehicles were involved in the crash; one was mildly injured.
Shumaker and her children had lived in the Valley previously, but had moved to Illinois. They'd reportedly relocated back to the Valley the day before the crash.
Jordan was under indictment at the time of the wreck and facing trial for a 2009 case in which he allegedly offered to pay a woman if she let him have sex with her 6-year-old daughter.
We left a message for Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery to see if he can tell us how the guilty-but-insane verdict in the crash case may impact the sex case, which still has a trial date of September 16, court records show.
Judge Bergin's August 1 minute entry in the 2011 case states that she found Jordan guilty beyond reasonable doubt on a count of second-degree murder, two counts of aggravated assault, and two counts of endangerment.
However, Judge Bergin also found that Jordan proved -- by way of doctors' reports -- that "he was afflicted with a mental disease or defect of such severity that he did not know the criminal acts he committed were wrong."
Perhaps someday, mental health experts will be able to determine such a diagnosis before time bombs like Jordan obtain a driver's license.
UPDATE: Jerry Cobb, spokesman for Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery, got back to us with answers on our two main questions -- What was Jordan's potential prison sentence range, and what impact the crash case could have on the sex case. Here's what Cobb wrote back:
1) Mr. Jordan faces a possible sentence ranging from 16 to 35 years in the state mental health facility. We respectfully decline to speculate on the likelihood of potential future determinations by the PSRB.2) The two cases are independent of each other.
