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Norris E. Wells, the 59-year-old Clarence man accused of stabbing his wife to death, has a history of depression, law enforcement officials have been told, as they try to learn more about his mental problems in the face of a potential insanity defense.
"We're not looking at a whodunit," Erie County District Attorney Frank J. Clark said Friday. "We're looking at whether he was criminally responsible for his actions. Just because you're suffering from mental disease or defect doesn't mean you're not responsible for your actions."
Wells, known as Gene, faces second-degree murder and other charges in the stabbing death of his wife, Lynn M. Wells, 58, with a butcher knife inside their Spaulding Drive home in Clarence late Thursday morning.
An autopsy performed in the Erie County medical examiner's office Friday revealed that Lynn Wells died from three stab wounds to the chest, State Police Senior Investigator Edward J. Kennedy said. She also suffered two stab wounds to her left arm.
Gene Wells, according to police reports, told officers he was "a wacko" who had been in and out of the Erie County Medical Center psychiatric ward, where he had been treated just two days earlier.
"I'm told he was scheduled for a follow-up on his medical condition just days after the event took place," Clark said, adding that Lynn Wells had taken some time off from work to be with her husband.
"I can't possibly dream of a sadder scenario than this, where there appears to be a problem that they're trying to address as a family, and before that can be addressed, this tragedy occurs," Clark said.
Clark, who anticipates that a psychiatric defense will be used, explained why the proof of a medical disease or defect doesn't necessarily mean a person isn't responsible for his actions.
"The mental disease or defect has to be such that you don't appreciate the nature or the consequence of your acts or that they're wrong," Clark said of the standard used in such cases.
Using a search warrant, investigators late Thursday found a knife that is being tested to see whether it was used in the killing.
Following the stabbing, Wells was arrested without incident after state troopers found him pacing outside the home. Troopers said Wells later told them he attacked his wife in the bathroom with a butcher knife.
Law enforcement officials said Friday they had no indication of domestic abuse complaints or any other trouble at the residence before Thursday's killing.
Norris E. Wells, the 59-year-old Clarence man accused of stabbing his wife to death, has a history of depression, law enforcement officials have been told, as they try to learn more about his mental problems in the face of a potential insanity defense.
"We're not looking at a whodunit," Erie County District Attorney Frank J. Clark said Friday. "We're looking at whether he was criminally responsible for his actions. Just because you're suffering from mental disease or defect doesn't mean you're not responsible for your actions."
Wells, known as Gene, faces second-degree murder and other charges in the stabbing death of his wife, Lynn M. Wells, 58, with a butcher knife inside their Spaulding Drive home in Clarence late Thursday morning.
An autopsy performed in the Erie County medical examiner's office Friday revealed that Lynn Wells died from three stab wounds to the chest, State Police Senior Investigator Edward J. Kennedy said. She also suffered two stab wounds to her left arm.
Gene Wells, according to police reports, told officers he was "a wacko" who had been in and out of the Erie County Medical Center psychiatric ward, where he had been treated just two days earlier.
"I'm told he was scheduled for a follow-up on his medical condition just days after the event took place," Clark said, adding that Lynn Wells had taken some time off from work to be with her husband.
"I can't possibly dream of a sadder scenario than this, where there appears to be a problem that they're trying to address as a family, and before that can be addressed, this tragedy occurs," Clark said.
Clark, who anticipates that a psychiatric defense will be used, explained why the proof of a medical disease or defect doesn't necessarily mean a person isn't responsible for his actions.
"The mental disease or defect has to be such that you don't appreciate the nature or the consequence of your acts or that they're wrong," Clark said of the standard used in such cases.
Using a search warrant, investigators late Thursday found a knife that is being tested to see whether it was used in the killing.
Following the stabbing, Wells was arrested without incident after state troopers found him pacing outside the home. Troopers said Wells later told them he attacked his wife in the bathroom with a butcher knife.
Law enforcement officials said Friday they had no indication of domestic abuse complaints or any other trouble at the residence before Thursday's killing.