Woodstock man suspected in grisly murder still unfit for trial, judge rules

A McHenry County man accused of dousing a health clinic receptionist in gasoline and setting her on fire remains mentally unfit to stand trial for murder, a judge ruled today.

The decision by McHenry County Judge Joseph Condon leaves county prosecutors with three options of how to proceed with Lawrence Hucksteadt, including having him involuntarily committed through a civil court or holding a triallike proceeding aimed at giving doctors more time to make him fit.

The third option would be to dismiss the charges against Hucksteadt and release him, but "we would never do that," said Assistant McHenry County State's Attorney Michael Combs.

Hucksteadt, 45, of Woodstock, faces charges of first-degree murder, aggravated arson and heinous battery stemming from a July 2004 incident inside a behavioral health facility where he was a onetime patient.

Authorities say Hucksteadt argued with receptionist Ellen Polivka inside the clinic, left briefly and returned with a can of gasoline. Charges allege he poured the gasoline on the 69-year-old Woodstock woman and set her on fire. She died from her injuries about a month later.

Hucksteadt has spent most of the nearly four years since locked up in state mental health facilities as doctors have been unable to make him fit for trial. In hearings leading up to today's ruling, two psychiatrists treating Hucksteadt at the Elgin Mental Health Center testified he suffers from substance induced dementia that compromises his memory and makes it impossible to assist in his own defense.

In his four-page written decision, Condon said he accepts those doctors' testimony over those of two prosecution experts who believed Hucksteadt may have been faking, or exaggerating, his condition.

Prosecutors now have until July 16 to announce how they will proceed.

If they chose the trial-like proceeding, they will try to show the court that Hucksteadt is guilty of the charges alleged. If they succeed, the court can order Hucksteadt held in custody for up to five more years while psychiatrists continue efforts to make him fit.

They could also choose to drop the charges and have him committed through civil court. If psychiatrists later believe he is well enough to be released, prosecutors can reinstate the charges and take Hucksteadt to trial.

"We'd be back at square one," Combs said.

For now, Hucksteadt will remain in the custody of the Illinois Department of Human Services.

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