Woman Accused of Torching Family Home Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity

A Sparta woman charged with using gasoline to start a fire in her parents’ Fox Trail Road home was found not guilty by reason of insanity Friday in state Superior Court in Newton and will avoid a possible five to 10 years in prison, the New Jersey Herald reported.

Judge Stuart A. Minkowitz ruled that due to severe mental illness she's dealt with since the age of 16, 28-year-old Lindsey Kiensicki  was not responsible for her actions on Feb. 28. The woman was ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation to determine future treatment. In the meantime, she must continue her present course of treatment, attend biweekly meetings with a probation officer biweekly and to interface with her parents, Bob and Lois Kiensicki, the article said.

Sussex County Assistant Prosecutor Daniel Bajger said Kiensicki is “making great strides” under treatment, but called the case "tragic." Last February, officials said, the woman placed wood logs on the stairs in the house, doused the area with gasoline and ignited the fire. At the same time, her parents were at their first workshop session for families of mentally ill people. Kiensicki suffered third-degree burns to her arms, hands, right leg and face as a result of the fire and was treated for several months at the St. Barnabas Medical Center's Burn Center in Livingston, the article continued.