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Father pleading guilty but mentally ill in Nakota Kelly's death. Here's what that means in Indiana.

Agreement would require Anthony Dibiah received mental health treatment while serving prison sentence

WRTV's Marc Mullins and Vic Ryckaert report. The body of a young, Hoosier boy is somewhere between Indianapolis and Missouri and his mother wants closure. His father is in jail facing charges in the boy's death.

45 years ago: Tony Kiritsis holds mortgage broker hostage for 63 hours

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By: Vic Ryckaert

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INDIANAPOLIS — Anthony Dibiah is expected to plead guilty but mentally ill on Friday to the murder of his 10-year-old son Nakota Kelly, court records show.

But what does "guilty but mentally ill" actually mean?

"It means that although the person had a mental illness, he was still able to basically understand what he or she was doing," Indianapolis attorney Jack Crawford said. "It's a step below not guilty by reason of insanity."

Crawford was the elected prosecutor in Lake County in 1980 when he and then-Marion County Prosecutor Stephen Goldsmith pushed Indiana lawmakers to enact a law that gave juries a verdict of guilty but mentally ill as an alternative to the insanity defense.

Crawford said two infamous Indiana crimes of the late 1970s drove the change: The killing of a major league baseball player in Gary and the kidnapping of a mortgage company executive in Indianapolis.

In November 1979, a jury in Lake County found Leonard Smith not guilty by reason of insanity in the murder of California Angels rising star Lyman Bostock.
In October 1977, a Marion County jury found Anthony "Tony" Kiritisis not guilty by reason of insanity in the shocking and televised kidnapping and robbery of Meridian Mortgage Company President Richard O. Hall.

"It created an uproar in the state," Crawford said. "Myself and the then-Prosecutor Steven Goldsmith of Marion County got together and came down to the legislature and lobbied for a change."

After their not guilty verdicts, Kiritsis and Smith were released after receiving mental health treatment. Smith spent about two years and Kiritsis spent about 11 years in state facilities.

Both might have served much longer prison sentences if guilty but mentally ill had been an option, Crawford said.

"If you're found guilty but mentally ill, you are sent to the Department of Correction like every other criminal defendant," Crawford said.

The Indiana law Crawford helped change more than 40 years ago requires that defendants found guilty but mentally ill must be evaluated and treated for mental illness while they serve whatever sentence a judge orders.

"The bottom line is you're going to prison rather than being set free," Crawford said.

On Friday, Anthony Dibiah is scheduled to be the latest defendant in Marion County to plead guilty but mentally ill.

Nakota Kelly.jpg — Hayley Kelly took this photo of her son Nakota at the Wabash County Fair days before the boy was allegedly killed by his father.

Dibiah signed a plea deal, records show, that requires he admit to killing his son Nakota Kelly in Indianapolis during a court-ordered weekend visit in July 2020.

The plea deal filed Monday won't be official until it is accepted by a judge, which might happen at Friday's hearing.

If Judge Shatrese M. Flowers accepts the agreement, Dibiah faces a maximum of 55 years in prison.