Judge finds man who used samurai sword to kill his ‘sweet, innocent’ mother not guilty by reason of insanity

Deputies said they found a samurai sword in Damien Winslow Washam

Deputies said they found a samurai sword in Damien Winslow Washam’s car when they arrested him for murdering his mother, Helen Nettles Washam. (Mug shot and image: Mobile County Sheriff’s Office)

An Alabama man charged with the murder of his mother and attacking his uncle and brother with a samurai sword has been acquitted by reason of insanity.

A judge declared Damien Winslow Washam, 25, not guilty by reason of insanity after multiple mental evaluations in the custody of the Alabama Department of Mental Health, Tara Zieman, communications director of the Mobile County District Attorney’s Office, told Law&Crime on Monday.

Mobile County deputies responded to a Mausap Road home in the community of Eight Mile on Jan. 16, 2022. Investigators found the defendant’s mother, Helen Nettles Washam, 61, dead from lacerations. Damien Washam’s uncle — bedridden with cerebral palsy — sustained severe lacerations to the face and was sent to the hospital in critical condition. The defendant’s brother — who has autism, according to Oxygen — had lacerations to his wrist and was treated at the scene.

But Damien Washam fled in a dark green 2000 Honda Accord, deputies said.

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