FOND DU LAC, WI (WTAQ) — The man convicted this week of causing a fatal crash as a hate crime in Fond du Lac County is not going to prison.
27-year-old Daniel Navarro instead has been sentenced to life in a mental institution.
Navarro was convicted Wednesday of first-degree intentional homicide as a hate crime in the July 3, 2020 crash that killed Phillip Thiessen in Fond du Lac County. He was also convicted of first-degree recklessly endangering safety as a hate crime.
Navarro pleaded not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect. The convictions triggered a second phase of his trial in which the jury was tasked with determining his mental state at the time of the crash, a key finding that helps determine whether he should face prison time or be institutionalized.
Fond du Lac County District Attorney Eric Toney said the jury heard two doctors testify Thursday that Navarro suffered from paranoid delusions and schizophrenia. Judge Andrew Christenson committed him to the state Department of Health Services’ institutional care for life.
Navarro reportedly told investigators he had been harassed by co-workers and neighbors, and poisoned, drugged and verbally attacked by white people because of his race. The criminal complaint also notes that, during an interview with police, Navarro said he wanted to go to prison so he could escape his neighbors, who he claimed to hear making racist comments about him through the walls of his home.
