shocked by his actions. Kiritsis was described as "always helpful and kind to his neighbors, a hard worker and a strict law-and-order sort of man". Kiritsis also said several times that he did not want anyone to get hurt and apologized for the way he had treated Dick Hall. At his trial, psychiatrists said he was psychotic and in a "paranoid delusional state" during the hostage incident. Later life Kiritsis was released from a mental institution in January 1988, after the state could not prove he was still a danger to society. Kiritsis died in January 2005 at his home of natural causes. He was 72 years old. Effects of the case At the time of the trial, Indiana law (and that of some other states) required the prosecution to disprove a defendant's claim of insanity, i.e. to prove the defendant sane, beyond a reasonable doubt. Directly as a result of the Kiritsis trial—particularly the testimony of chief defense psychiatrist Larry M. Davis—and the trial of John Hinckley Jr., Indiana and other states substantially revised their law to place the burden of proof for insanity-pleading defendants squarely on the shoulders of the defense. John H. Blair, a freelance photographer for UPI, took a photograph of the incident that won him the 1978 Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography. Footage of the incident was included in the 1982 documentary The Killing of America as one of many examples of violence in the United States. A feature-length documentary about the hostage incident called Dead Man's Line was released in 2017. A dramatization of the hostage incident starring Jon Hamm was released as an 8-episode podcast called American Hostage in 2022. References External links Tony Kiritsis' Press Conference Kiritsis' Apartment Documentary "I'll Have Vengeance" – Time Magazine article Legendary WIBC Newsman Key Figure in Ending Standoff Kiritsis and Me: Enduring 63 Hours at Gunpoint by hostage Dick Hall 1932 births 2005 deaths American kidnappers American people of Greek descent Hostage taking in the United States People acquitted by reason of insanity People from Indianapolis Crime in Indianapolis Crimes in Indiana Criminal trials that ended in acquittal