NEWS-TIMES WHIDBEY
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 18, 2012 | Vol. 113, No. 5 | WWW.WHIDBEYNEWSTIMES.COM | 75¢
Living: Project Linus comforts kids. A11
Jail interview: Double murder suspect claims ‘hallucination’ By JESSIE STENSLAND Staff reporter
Joshua Lambert claims he had an extremely intense, day-long hallucination on Oct. 3 of last year. That was the day he allegedly stabbed one of his grandfathers more than 30 times, tied up his great aunt with packing tape and then drove to his mother’s house where he also stabbed his other grandfather to death. In a jailhouse interview with the Whidbey NewsTimes, Lambert discussed some of the details of the two murders he’s accused of committing on North Whidbey. In addition, the newspaper obtained more information about the crimes and Lambert’s history through public records requests. Lambert has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of his 80-year-old paternal grandfather, George Lambert, and the first-degree kidnapping of his grandfather’s sister. In addition, he said he expects to be charged in the death of 80-year-old August Eugene “Sonny” Eisner, his maternal grandfather.
Insanity claimed Lambert, a 30-year-old high school drop-out, is acting as his own attorney and is planning an insanity defense. He said he’s sure he’ll be able to describe his hallucinations well enough to psychologists that they will understand he was insane at the time and not legally culpable for the murders. “I think I will be able to prove I was insane before. I’m really confident in that. I’ve never been so confident before,” he said. Island County Prosecutor Greg Banks, however, said he will almost certainly oppose the insanity defense. Under state law, Lambert will have to prove that he “was unable to perceive the
Justin Burnett / Whidbey News-Times
Attorney Matthew Walker makes his way to Island County Superior Court in Coupeville Tuesday morning. The snow storm left most of Whidbey Island under at least six inches of snow. More is projected for Wednesday.
Snow storm blankets island By NATHAN WHALEN Jessie Stensland / Whidbey News-Times
Suspected murderer Joshua Lambert listens as a judge discusses his case in Island County Superior Court last week. Lambert is acting as his own attorney. nature or quality” of his actions or was unable to tell right from wrong, according to model jury instructions. Even if Lambert did have a hallucination or is diagnosed by an expert with a major psychiatric disorder, Lambert still may not be able to prove he was not guilty by reason of insanity, according to Banks. Lambert’s alleged comments to his great aunt, for example, could be used to show he realized he had killed his grandfather and he knew it was wrong since he told her not to call police. “My position is that he was not insane,” Banks said. Still, the prosecutor said the psychiatric evaluation will be an important consideration. He’s waiting until
after the report comes in to decide how to charge Lambert for the Eisner murder and whether to pursue the death penalty.
Psychiatric report Lambert said he wasn’t comfortable describing the details of the hallucination until after a psychological evaluation scheduled at Western State Hospital, but he wrote a statement for the News-Times that offers some clues. “I was hallucinating on that day,” he wrote. “I was not in fear for my own safety. I was in fear of something much worse than my own safety. I also believe that if my hallucination was a re-
ality they would have been willing to die to stop it.” Presumably, “they” refers to his grandfathers.
Deputies attacked After his arrest, Lambert became frantic at the jail and demanded to speak to his son before suddenly attacking deputies. Lambert said he was still in the midst of the hallucination at the time. Lambert also wrote that he “did not intend to be brutal on purpose.” “I love my papas very much, I did not want this to happen,” he wrote. Lambert said he also wasn’t ready to discuss SEE LAMBERT, PAGE A7
Staff reporter
Whidbey public schools closed Tuesday and the Puget Sound region is bracing for more snow that is expected to fall Wednesday. Parts of Whidbey were snowed under this weekend, including Oak Harbor and Clinton, though most areas in between were clear. It started coming down hard Tuesday morning, school superintendents announced closures and several inches or more of the white stuff covered the island. It wasn’t unusual to see cars stuck in ditches or unable to make it up hills. The National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning stating that one to two inches of snow would fall Tuesday before breaking in the evening. Then, an additional five to 10 inches of snow is possible to
fall by Wednesday evening. Despite the forecast, most places on Whidbey saw at least six inches of snow before noon. In Coupeville, most people seemed to stay holed up for the worst of it but a few braved the frosty weather. Dressed for court and trudging through wet ankledeep snow down N. Main Street on his way to Island County Superior Court, attorney Matthew Walker said he was still glad to be walking rather than driving. “I can always climb out of a ditch but I can’t drive out of one,” he laughed. Snow first started falling SEE SNOW, PAGE A4