Benjamin Elliott (KHOU/YouTube).
A 21-year-old man from Texas was found guilty by a jury on Monday for fatally stabbing his twin sister. The man, Benjamin Elliott, had initially claimed he was sleepwalking during the tragic incident.
Benjamin Elliott was sentenced to 15 years in prison by a judge the following day. The crime took place in 2021 when Elliott, then 17, used a survival knife to fatally stab his sister Meghan Elliott while she was asleep in their Katy home, located in a Houston suburb. Elliott stated that he was asleep and dreaming at the time of the attack, only realizing the seriousness of the situation upon waking up.
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“I freaked out and, like, put the knife down and put a pillow on her to try and stop the bleeding. Then called, you know, 911 from my phone,” he said in his initial statement to cops.
But Meghan Elliott did not survive.
After deliberating for about five hours, the jury came back with a guilty verdict for murder.
His defense lawyer said in closing arguments that he had no reason to kill her.
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“How could a kid who cherishes his sister, who loves her, protects her, how could someone commit a crime that heinous without a reasonable explanation?” his attorney Wes Rucker told the jury, according to a courtroom report from local ABC affiliate KTRK.
Prosecutors said the sleepwalking defense was hogwash. While they could never come up with a motive for the killing, they did present evidence that Benjamin Elliott was on his phone some 20 minutes before the stabbing, suggesting he was awake. He also was alert enough to call 911, the state noted.
He also used the pillow to muffle her screams, prosecutors alleged.
“While I didn’t give you motive, I did give you premeditation. It’s not a coincidence that the knife he got the night before is the same knife he used to kill his sister,” prosecutor Megan Long said, per KTRK.
For their part, members of the Elliott family put their support behind Benjamin and believed he was indeed sleepwalking. They said he had a history of it. His older sister testified about an incident from several years ago in which he seemed to be sleepwalking when he appeared in a bedroom doorway.
“And I just like touched his shoulder and his eyes were barely open and then we told him to go back to bed,” Elizabeth Elliott said, according to local CBS affiliate KHOU.
“Is this just some made-up bologna or a really creative defense?” Rucker said. “The answer is absolutely not.”
The defense also presented experts who said the act is possible.
“I think the jury got it wrong,” defense witness Dr. Jerald Simmons, a neurologist, told KTRK after the verdict. “It’s totally possible. If it wasn’t possible, I would have not taken the position. There are other cases. They are rare, but they can occur.”
Although rare, the sleepwalking defense is used from time to time — even successfully. A jury found a North Carolina man not guilty of first-degree murder after he said he was sleepwalking when smothered his 4-year-old son and attacked two other children in September 2010. Experts reportedly told the jury he was suffering from stress and a lack of sleep when the incident occurred.
