Thompson not guilty of homicide by reason of insanity

Rather than being convicted of homicide, DuPage County Judge Peter Dockery ruled Hubert Thompson, formerly known as "Boo Boo", was legally insane (paranoid) when he killed James Malone. See Sun-Times (Dan Rozek).

Thompson was a star athlete at Proviso West. He played football at Michigan State University.

Personal accounts described him as being a particularly nice guy in high school. Looking back there were probably signs of his mental deterioration at MSU. In his brief time with the New Orleans Saints he got into a fight with another player over an exercise bicycle.

It would have been better for Thompson and Malone if Thompson got either effective mental health treatment or was placed in a supervised setting before he became so imbalanced that throwing his friend and neighbor off the balcony made sense to him.