Crystal Lake man insane when he tried to kill girlfriend, judge rules

A former Hurricane Katrina evacuee was ruled not guilty by reason of insanity Wednesday on charges he tried to kill his live-in girlfriend because, he later told police, she had become the devil.

Willie M. Terry, 49, of Crystal Lake, will now go into the custody of the Illinois Department of Human Services, which within 30 days will draft a report indicating what should happen to him next.

One possible, if not likely, recommendation is that he be held in a secure DHS facility for the maximum prison term he would have faced if convicted - 30 years - while undergoing treatment for mental illness that includes paranoid schizophrenia.

Judge Joseph Condon ruled Terry legally insane on charges of attempted murder, aggravated domestic battery and armed violence stemming from a Sept. 6, 2006, attack on his 54-year-old girlfriend. Police said Terry stabbed the woman repeatedly in the upper body and face in a Crystal Lake apartment they shared after fleeing their native Louisiana in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Police later reported that Terry slipped into "trance-like" states when they interviewed him about the incident.

"It was disconcerting to the detective," Assistant McHenry County State's Attorney Michael Combs said. "(Terry) told the detective he was communicating with Satan."

Condon also received evidence of a June 2006 incident in which Terry called Crystal Lake police to his apartment asking them to remove his girlfriend because she was possessed. Terry was hospitalized for several weeks afterward, reports indicate.

Terry's attorney, Senior Assistant Public Defender Christopher Harmon, said psychiatric reports indicate Terry had a history of mental illness before moving to Crystal Lake and that doctors did not believe he was faking.

"Mr. Terry is extremely mentally ill and delusional," Harmon said. "He meant no harm to (the victim). He wanted to kill the demon that she had become or that had taken her over."

There was no formal trial on the case. Instead, Condon ruled after reviewing police reports and evidence from the attack, as well as psychiatric evaluations of Terry.

"As a result of mental illness, the defendant did not appreciate the criminality of his conduct at the time of the crime," the judge said.