NORFOLK — A judge this week ordered a 22-year-old man committed to a state hospital psychiatric treatment after finding him not guilty by reason of insanity for the 2024 slayings of his father and grandmother.
Ronnie Nyamekye Campbell entered insanity pleas in March to four charges, including two counts of second-degree murder. Circuit Judge David W. Lannetti accepted the pleas after defense and prosecution experts agreed Campbell was legally insane when he killed his family members.
The judge also ordered that Campbell be placed in the custody of the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services for further mental health evaluations.
In Virginia, a defendant can be considered legally insane if — at time of their crime and because of “mental disease or defect” — they could not understand the nature or consequences of their actions, were unable to distinguish right from wrong or were unable to resist an impulse to commit the actions. Psychotic disorders and intellectual disabilities qualify as a mental disease or defect.
The slayings happened around 5 p.m. Feb. 8, 2024, at a Dunkirk Avenue home Campbell shared with his grandmother, 64-year-old Arneta Marie Thagard.
When Campbell saw his father, Ronnie Credle Campbell, 46, outside the house that day, he stabbed him several times, according to a statement from prosecutors. The father, wheelchair bound due to an amputated leg, was defenseless during the attack, the statement said. After stabbing his father, Campbell went back inside and stabbed his grandmother.
Campbell will remain in a state psychiatric hospital until his next review hearing on Aug. 28, 2026, according to prosecutors. The judge will get an update on Campbell’s treatment and progress, and determine whether he needs to remain hospitalized, or be released with or without conditions.
If he’s ordered to remain hospitalized, he would continue to get periodic review hearings.
Jane Harper, jane.harper@pilotonline.com
https://www.pilotonline.com/2025/10/18/man-not-guilty-insanity-norfolk/

