Jury will decide if Arlington Heights man was insane in wife's murder
A jury will decide if an Arlington Heights man was legally insane in November 2014 when authorities say he killed his wife with a hatchet, but only if they first find him guilty of the crime.
During a competency hearing Thursday in Racine County court, Judge Eugene Gasiorkiewicz set Cristian Loga-Negru's criminal trial for the week of July 11. If jurors convict him on charges of first-degree intentional homicide, mayhem and kidnapping, the same jury will then hear evidence and decide whether Loga-Negru, 39, was insane at the time of the slaying.
Authorities say Loga-Negru killed his wife, Roxana Abrudan, after tracking her to her boss' home in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin, where she had been hiding from him.
Loga-Negru appeared briefly in court Thursday wearing an orange jail jumpsuit - he's been held without bond since his arrest - but did not speak.
His trial originally was scheduled to begin in February, but he moved to enter a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity, delaying the proceedings. He was examined by psychologist Deborah Collins, and though both sides have reviewed her findings, they will remain confidential until the trial, Gasiorkiewicz said.
The judge said he expects both the criminal and mental health trials to be completed within the week in July.
"I'm clearing my calendar to accommodate this," he said.
According to police records, Loga-Negru and Abrudan, 36, had a volatile relationship for months leading up to the murder. Records show Abrudan had contacted police several times and filed for an order of protection against her husband before her death.
She then fled their Arlington Heights condo and was staying with her boss and his wife when Loga-Negru found and attacked her with a hatchet outside their home, authorities say.
He and took her to a nearby Super 8 Motel where, according to a criminal complaint, police found him with his wife's body in a car. She died later that night at a Wisconsin hospital with what the Milwaukee County medical examiner described as "multiple chop wounds and blunt force injuries."
If convicted of first-degree homicide, Loga-Negru faces life plus 85 years in prison.