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The Associated Press
SALINAS, Calif. (AP) -- A California man charged with using a lamp, golf club and chair to beat his grandparents has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.
Prosecutors say John Knowlton Hougham III, 26, attacked the couple after his grandmother refused to loan him money to buy a car.
The Monterey Herald the Salinas man entered the insanity plea Thursday. A judge ordered psychiatric examinations.
His lawyer says Hougham is schizophrenic and is bipolar.
If it's determined he was insane at the time of the September 2011 attacks, he could be ordered to a state mental hospital for life.
Prosecutors say Hougham attacked his 81-year-old grandfather with a chair as he slept, and he then used a lamp and golf club to attack his 78-year-old grandmother.
The elderly couple recovered.
The Associated Press