PULLMAN, WA – The 31-year-old woman who was found not guilty by reason of insanity in a Pullman attempted murder has been committed to a state psychiatric hospital.

Tiffany Dennison was charged with attempted murder for allegedly stabbing a Pullman man inside his College Hill home in September of 2023.  The man was critically injured.  Dennison had moved from California and was living in Pullman with her sister when she met the victim’s girlfriend.  She had been staying with the man and his girlfriend when the attack took place.  Dennison thought the man was the devil and doctors found that she was having a psychotic episode during the stabbing.  Whitman County Superior Court Commissioner Doug Robinson accepted Dennison’s insanity plea last fall.

Superior Court Judge Roger Sandberg heard from two psychiatrists during a two hour hearing on Thursday.  A state doctor testified that Dennison poses a substantial risk to the public if she was released from custody primarily because the cause of her violent psychotic break hasn’t been determined.  A psychologist for the defense essentially testified that Dennison doesn’t pose a safety risk because she has had no mental health issues while in jail.  Dennison has been in jail in Colfax for over 550 days and jailers described her as a model inmate.

The prosecutor asked Judge Sandberg to keep Dennison in custody and send her to Eastern State Hospital.  The defense requested that she be released with reasonable conditions.

Judge Sandberg agreed with the prosecution and ordered to keep Dennison in custody at Eastern State finding that she does pose a substantial danger to the public.

Dennison will be moved to the psychiatric hospital in Medical Lake where she will undergo mental health treatment.  A team of doctors will decide if and when she can be released from custody depending on her treatment outcomes.  She can petition for release every six months.