Illegal immigrant convicted of decapitating his girlfriend found not guilty due to mental illness
An illegal immigrant from Cuba who was convicted of murder earlier this year for decapitating his girlfriend in 2021 has been found not guilty due to his mental illness.
The reversal for Alexis Saborit, 42, who was found guilty of first-degree premeditated murder in May, came Monday when a judge made the ruling about his mental competency.
Judge Caroline Lennon’s ruling cited psychologists who determined the immigrant’s “mental illness prevented him from understanding his actions were morally wrong,” according to Fox 9.
Saborit decapitated his 55-year-old girlfriend America Mafalda Thayer with a machete in Minneapolis in July 2021. Several people witnessed the gruesome broad-daylight attack.
One of the bystanders saw him pull Thayer’s body out of the car and then picked her head up by her hair.
Saborit reportedly went ballistic after Thayer told him she wanted to end their tumultuous, 12-year relationship, and his indictment revealed that he allegedly told a friend, “I’m going to chop her f–king head off” with a laugh days before the slaying.
Saborit waived his right to a jury trial, and his attorney has long claimed he suffered from mental health issues throughout the process.
However, Lennon determined in May he had made deliberate actions when he attacked Thayer.
“[Saborit] used both an eight-pound dumbbell and machete during his assault. [His] decision to put down the dumbbell and use the machete is evidence of a deliberate mental thought process,” she wrote.
After her initial ruling in which Saborit potentially faced life in prison, his defense team filed a motion on July 12 to argue that he should be found not guilty because of his mental illness.
The order discussed his hospitalizations in 2013 for “bizarre delusions,” as well as a traumatic brain injury from a 2017 car crash, after which he began to have hallucinations, according to Fox 9. He was also hospitalized in May 2020 because he believed there was a camera in his head following the crash.
He was also diagnosed with several mental illnesses, including psychosis and delusions, Fox 9 reported.
Saborit’s team argued since no one disputed the court-ordered psychologist’s opinions, his guilty verdict should be revoked. Lennon agreed but ordered Saborit to stay in the Scott County Jail until he can be transferred to another facility.
The ruling did not sit well with Thayer’s son, Charles Thayer.
“It is tough to understand how somebody can commit cold-blooded murder, plan to do it, tell everyone they’re going to do it, have a motive to do it, and then somehow be considered insane.”
He told the court in his victim statement that his mother suffered years of abuse at the hands of Saborit, and he believed the immigrant should rot in prison.
“I just don’t know what world or society we are living in anymore. I just want this to be over with, for myself and my family.”
While he read his impact statement, Thayer held a large, poster-board-sized photo of his mother, which he claimed Saborit showed no emotion toward.
“He wouldn’t look at it. He didn’t make any eye contact at all. He is obviously very ashamed of what he did. He killed the only person in the world that cared about this guy,” Charles told Fox 9.
Saborit is expected to appear in court again on Tuesday.
