KALAMAZOO (WKZO-AM) — A Kalamazoo man who claimed he was doing “God’s work” when he set a sex shop on fire last year has been found not guilty by reason of insanity.
The fire destroyed the Hollywood Nights store on South Westnedge Avenue last February. 42-year-old Mitchell Hapner later admitted to detectives he was hoping to eradicate pornography by setting the fire.
Doctors at Michigan’s Center for Forensic Psychiatry said during a bench trial Thursday they were convinced Hapner’s mental instability prevented him from being able to tell right from wrong on the day he torched the structure.
Prosecutors have filed a petition to have Hapner committed to a psychiatric hospital where the criminally insane are treated.
