Woman granted supervised trips from health center

Less than five years after a court found her not guilty by reason of insanity for her mother's brutal murder, Alice Bair will walk free -- if only temporarily -- from a state mental health facility.

A McHenry County judge Friday granted permission for the 65-year-old Crystal Lake woman to take supervised trips away from the Elgin Mental Health Center, Bair's first taste of freedom since her mother's slaying in March 2001.

"What this court has ruled this afternoon is a major stride in your recovery and your integration back into society," Judge Sharon Prather told Bair.

But a major stride was not enough for Bair, who immediately pleaded with the judge for a total release.

"I would like to be released to the seclusion of my own home, where I decide when the television goes on and nobody is smoking on my front porch," she said, raising her right hand in the air as if taking an oath. "Before God, I ask for my freedom."

Prather denied the request, saying that regaining her freedom would be a long, slow process for Bair.

"This is your first major step in the right direction," the judge said. "I hope you continue to work as hard as you have, and I am sure you will reach your goal."

Bair has lived in custody at the Elgin Mental Health Center since November 2002, when a court ruled her not guilty by reason of insanity of first-degree murder for the killing of her 88-year-old mother, Margaret Bair.

Authorities say Bair, fearing that her mother planned to take her pet dogs away from her, beat the elderly woman to death inside her Crystal Lake home.

Prather's decision Friday allows Bair to take trips under the supervision of mental health center staff to local stores, libraries and outpatient treatment centers as she prepares for her eventual return to society. The trips were something Elgin staff recommended for Bair, saying she has been stable and sticking to her medical regimen since late 2004.

The McHenry County state's attorney's office had objected to Bair's request for off-site visits, noting that during her time in Elgin, Bair had more than a dozen violent altercations with staff, including one incident in which a worker suffered a sprained shoulder.

All of those incidents occurred before fall 2004, an Elgin psychiatrist said.