TAVARES – The lone surviving member of a family who and shot and killed one Lake County sheriff’s deputy and wounded two others in an Aug. 2 ambush has been indicted by a grand jury. Court records also show an interesting hint of the legal to come.
The sheriff’s office announced Monday that Julie Ann Sulpizio, 50, was indicted by a grand jury in the slaying of Master Deputy Bradley Link and injuring Deputies Stefano Gargano and Harold Howell.
She faces charges of principal to murder in the first degree of a law enforcement officer, premediated, three counts of principal to first degree murder of an officer, conspiracy to commit premeditated first-degree murder, battery on a law enforcement officer, and three counts of battery.
Under Florida law, a grand jury must issue a true bill for charges that could involve the death penalty. The State Attorney’s Office has 45 days to decide if it wants to pursue the ultimate punishment.
It would not be surprising for the Public Defender’s Office to present an insanity defense. After all, she was acting very strangely when deputies arrived at her home at 38144 Brookside Drive in Eustis.
She had attacked neighbors, calling them “sinners” and “pedophiles,” according to the probable cause affidavit. She asked one of them, “Who is your God?”
She also said, “Julie is in heaven,” and described herself as “Helen.”
She also described her husband, Michael, as “God,” and said she was trying to trick “Lucy,” her nickname for Lucifer. She also called out the names of what she believed to be guardian angels.
She was arrested and “Baker-acted,” the legal term for mental health evaluation.
Now, the State Attorney is seeking her medical records from Advent Health Waterman Hospital and from a doctor at the Lake County jail.
The question is, was she insane at the time of the crime, that is, unable to tell the difference between right and wrong? Was she under the influence of drugs or alcohol? Was she suffering from some other kind of mental illness, but not legally insane? Or was she faking?
Her husband and her two adult daughters apparently committed suicide.
It will be a long time before this case goes to trial, but another interesting aspect could raise its dark head. More on this later.