Cobb Man Who Killed Mother in 2011 Ruled Insane by Judge

A Cobb County judge ruled from the bench that a man on trial for killing his mother in 2011 did not understand the difference between right and wrong and was therefore insane at the time of the crime, WSB-TV reports.

Mario Nathaniel Dorce, of Marietta, shot and killed his mother May Carole Whitty on July 30, 2011 at her home in the 2600 block of Tritt Springs Trace off of Post Oak Tritt Road. On the ninth day of testimony in Dorce’s trial, Judge Robert Flournoy ordered the jury to return a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity.

The Marietta Daily Journal reported at the time that Dorce had shot his mother over religious differences, and had fired 15 9 mm rounds during the incident.

Whitty had been a longtime Cobb County school bus driver, serving students at East Cobb’s East Side Elementary School.

Witnesses told WSB-TV at the time of Dore’s arrest that he was acting strangely in the back of the patrol car, and footage captured by the station’s cameras seemed to reinforce that claim; Dore was recorded bouncing up and down inside the vehicle.