Raleigh, NC -- A mental patient who killed four people in a Forsyth County shooting spree is working 50 hours a week at a convenience store, upsetting the parents of one of the victims. Michael Hayes, 43, was acquitted by reason of insanity in the 1988 shooting that killed Thomas Nicholson and three others. He has lived at Dorothea Dix mental hospital in Raleigh since then, having been deemed too ill or dangerous to be released. While the victims' families weren't able to access information about Hayes, R.B. "Nick" and Doris Nicholson used a $2 million judgment they won against Hayes in 1990 to make him answer their questions two weeks ago in court. They had found out about Hayes' job in Wake County from a friend who saw him going to work. "It's the most horrible thing there is. He has no business out working," Doris Nicholson said. Hospital officials wouldn't confirm that Hayes is a patient because of privacy laws, but they acknowledged that six of 31 patients who were found not guilty by reason of insanity are in the off-campus work program. "Our goal in the hospital is to help people return to the community when it's appropriate," said Dr. Jim Osberg, the hospital's director. Hayes' attorney, Karl Knudsen of Raleigh, said he understands why the Nicholsons would want to know about his client. But he questioned the couple's motives, saying they have no legal right to know everything. "It is, in my opinion, a vehicle to obtain information that otherwise would not be obtainable and as a way to exact whatever retribution is available to them," he said. The Nicholsons have collected only $600 from Hayes in 17 years, and Nick Nicholson acknowledged that they probably won't ever get the millions. "That's the way we have put the civil judgment to good use," he said. After the judgment expires in three years, the Nicholsons could only get information if Hayes requests a hearing to argue for his release from the hospital. Hayes had said he thought he was killing demons in human bodies when Thomas Nicholson and the others were killed at a rural crossroads. Knudsen said Hayes has not taken psychiatric medications since 1988, and Hayes' hallucinations stopped shortly after the killings. Hayes has suffered by living the past 19 years in a mental institution, Knudsen said. "He has been a sane man living in an insane asylum for years and years and years," he said. "That is punishment."
Michael Hayes, Accused In 1988 Killings, Got Part-Time Job Out Of Hospital
A mental patient who killed four people in a Forsyth County shooting spree is working 50 hours a week at a convenience store, upsetting the parents of one of the victims.
