Fritzl Will Plead Insanity

The man charged with imprisoning his daughter for 24 years and repeatedly raping her may not spend long behind bars, reports the Times of London, as Josef Fritzel's lawyer plans to plead insanity to avoid a prison term. “Josef Fritzl is mentally ill and therefore not responsible for his actions," and belongs "in a closed psychiatry ward," Rudolf Mayer said. 

If the court psychiatrist doesn't find Fritzl sufficiently crazy, Mayer can choose another doctor to evaluate his client. Meanwhile, further details of the saga emerged today, with the Times reporting that Elisabeth Fritzl was kept tethered for months, and that the growing second family occupied a single underground bunker room for 9 years—meaning that the children witnessed Fritzl's repeated abuse of their mother. (More Josef Fritzl stories.)