Insanity defense filed for 73-year-old charged with murdering wife

The attorney of a 73-year-old Palatine man charged with murdering his wife last December filed motions Wednesday for an insanity defense and to suppress his client's statements to authorities at his trial.

Albert Rumlow, of the 1000 block of Grissom Drive, is accused of stabbing his 69-year-old wife Janet to death on the night of Dec. 17 before trying to kill himself with self-inflicted stab wounds.

Rumlow's attorney, Thomas Tyrrell, said his client was distraught over the stock market collapse and fearful that he had lost all his savings and would leave his wife destitute.

The defense is not disputing prosecutors' characterization of Rumlow's actions, but only that he was criminally responsible for them, Tyrrell said.

He added that a court-authorized physician has already determined Rumlow insane and that he was not able to understand Miranda warnings before he began speaking to police.

Rumlow made an audiotaped confession of his actions which Tyrrell is trying to suppress. However, Rumlow himself made the 911 call that brought police and paramedics to his home and that cannot be suppressed, Tyrrell said.

"He was very talkative and very mournful and sorry for what he did and was very apologetic and quite concerned about his wife," Tyrrell said of Rumlow's early conversations with police.

While the court physician found Rumlow insane, he also determined him to be fit for trial with the use of medication. Tyrrell said his client is currently on medication and doing well in Cook County jail.

Tyrrell said he would like to see Rumlow remanded to full-time medical care until such time as he would be determined to be no danger to himself or others.

Prosecutors will seek to back up their first-degree murder charge by arguing that Rumlow was criminally responsible for his actions.

Though the death penalty has been ruled out, Rumlow still faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if found guilty.

A court hearing on both motions filed Wednesday will be held Oct. 28.