Every now and then, there are those prized, tantalizingly athletic recruits that seem a bit… off. Usually it’s nothing. But in a few rare instances, they turn legitimately, clinically, criminally insane. Alonzo Spellman, we’re looking right at you on this one.

But former Michigan State Spartan DE Hubert “Boo Boo” Thompson, however, upped the ante in horrific “oh god you win game over” fashion two years ago, hurling his 66-year-old neighbor off a third-story balcony, killing him. A judge just ruled, however, that Thompson needs treatment more than punishment, as Thompson was just declared insane.

Per ESPN.COM:

An Illinois judge on Thursday ruled Hubert D. Thompson was insane when he hurled 66-year-old James Malone to his death March 30, 2007. Thompson will be confined to a high-security state mental institution and receive treatment.

A psychologist testified that Thompson was delusional and paranoid. Thompson had said he believed Malone was trying to kill him.

A couple things to get out of the way here. First of all, Thompson didn’t exactly just win his freedom. Jail would probably be more fun than a high-security mental institution, which is basically the state’s way of saying “we literally cannot trust you around anything right now.”It’s not straitjackets and padded rooms - anymore - but it’s still isolation and medication and general misery.

Second–Thompson probably wasn’t faking it. Despite what movies would have us believe, being declared insane isn’t an easy way out of prison. Oh, people will try to get that verdict, but psychologists aren’t exactly easily fooled on these things. Further, considering Thompson was ineligible for two years at MSU, it’s hardly likely that he’s well-versed enough in clinical paranoia that he could fake it well enough to fool a professional psychologist.

And really, tossing a guy nearly 40 years your elder off a balcony? That doesn’t exactly pass the Sanity Smell Test. You’re supposed to calmly nod when they tell stories, not convince yourself they’re going to kill you. You may think that’s just about the most obvious thing imaginable, but such is the hold mental illness has on a victim’s sense of reality. It’s bad news.