Bashir found not guilty by reason of insanity

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Bashir found not guilty by reason of insanity
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An Alexandria judge found the former cab driver who shot and grievously wounded police officer Peter Laboy during a traffic stop last year not guilty by reason of insanity Thursday afternoon.

Kashif Bashir, 29, was charged with capital attempted murder, malicious wounding and two counts of the use of a firearm in the commission of a felony following the February 2013 shooting. Though his actions that day were never in doubt, Bashir’s legal team strenuously argued that the one-time Alexandria Yellow Cab driver was not in his right mind when he took aim at the veteran motorcycle cop at an Old Town intersection near Lyles-Crouch Traditional Academy.

Laboy continues to recover from the shooting. Doctors called his survival miraculous.

While Bashir was arrested soon after the assault — authorities captured him following a police chase that ended with a vehicle wreck in Fairfax County — his trial had been repeatedly delayed. He twice was declared mentally incompetent to stand trial and sent to a state mental health facility for evaluation.

According to The Washington Post, Circuit Judge James Clark said this week’s testimony, from psychological experts to people who interacted with Bashir in the days prior, convinced him the Pakistani national had no notion of what he was doing when he opened fire.

– Derrick Perkins

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