U.S. Prosecutors Will Accept Insanity Plea in Bank Heists : Crime: Gilbert Michaels avoids jury trial on 18 counts of robbery. He will likely be held at a mental institution until he recovers.

Conceding that a North Hills man was insane when he stole nearly $1 million from nine San Fernando Valley banks, federal prosecutors announced Monday that they will accept a defense plea of not guilty by reason of insanity.

Gilbert Michaels, 51, had been scheduled to stand trial March 8 in U. S. District Court in Los Angeles. Prosecutors and defense attorneys, however, staved off a jury trial by reaching an agreement stipulating that Michaels committed the robberies, but that he was insane at the time.

“He has been evaluated by a number of psychiatrists and everybody is of the opinion that he was insane when he committed the robberies,” Assistant U. S. Atty. Christopher Tayback said.

Michaels was indicted along with James Ambrose McGrath on 18 counts of bank robbery with firearms violations. A federal court jury convicted McGrath on all counts in October and he was subsequently sentenced to 30 years in prison.

The decision by prosecutors in the Michaels case to accept the defense’s insanity claim pleased Timothy Lannen, an attorney representing Michaels.

“Our extensive psychiatric diagnosis regarding Mr. Michaels indicated that he suffered from a mental condition so severe it rendered him unable to understand the difference between right and wrong,” Lannen said.

“Apparently the government could not rebut that diagnosis.”

Once the judge presiding over the case renders a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity, Michaels will most likely be held at a mental institution until he recovers, Lannen said. A hearing to determine Michaels’ current mental state has been scheduled for Feb. 22.

“He is in partial remission as a result of anti-psychotic medication,” Lannen said.

The FBI captured Michaels and McGrath in March, 1992, after the robbery of a Home Savings of America branch in Woodland Hills. Both men were also charged with robbing a Tarzana bank of $430,000, the largest amount ever taken in a Los Angeles bank robbery.