Did mental illness lead to attack on elderly West Chicago couple?

David Martinez Villareal struggled with mental illness for years before he viciously beat an elderly couple out feeding birds in an unprovoked attack in West Chicago.

But was the 24-year-old man legally insane during the Jan. 8, 2006 violence that months later led to the woman's death?

DuPage Circuit Judge George Bakalis will answer that question Friday when he rules whether Villareal is not guilty by reason of insanity; guilty but mentally ill or just plain guilty.

Mireille Ellberg and her husband, James, often spent their Sunday mornings driving around town in search of birds, ducks, stray cats and other critters to feed.

But the West Chicago couple's kindhearted tradition ran into unexpected violence when they encountered Villareal, who was smoking a cigarette outside his apartment on the 800 block of Main Street.

Prosecutor Robert Berlin said Villareal reached into the couple's pickup truck through an open door and repeatedly pummeled the 65-year-old man in the face.

Villareal is accused of turning his attention to the 71-year-old woman after she stepped out of the truck and shouted at him. Berlin said Villareal punched her in the face and, as she lay on the ground, he repeatedly kicked her.

James Ellberg rushed to the front of the truck to intervene. Berlin said Villareal punched and kicked the man to the ground. Authorities accused Villareal of running over the unconscious woman while fleeing.

Mireille Ellberg never fully regained consciousness. She died at age 72 on March 1, 2007, nearly 14 months after the violent clash.

Jeff York and Jaime Escuber, both senior assistant public defenders, argue Villareal should be found not guilty by reason of insanity and be sent to a secured state mental hospital - rather than prison - for treatment.

On Monday, two forensic psychologists testified during a one-day trial that Villareal suffers from schizo-affective disorder, which is a psychotic illness with a depressive mood disorder.

They said Villareal had stopped taking his medication days before the attack after complaining of headaches and, on Jan. 8, 2006, became consumed by voices in his head that ordered him to attack the couple, whom he believed to be murderous descendants of Spaniards involved in the historic conquest of Mexico.

Both experts agreed Villareal was legally insane, meaning he did not understand, in its simplest terms, the difference between right and wrong at the time of the crime because of his mental disease or defect.

Villareal did not have a history of violence. He arrived in the United States in April 2005 from Mexico. He has a well-documented mental past dating back to about age 14 that included hospitalizations, including after an earlier psychotic episode with his mother, whom he forced to blindfold and count backward from 100 in July 2005 after confusing her for another historic figure in Mexican history.

Bakalis found Villareal temporarily unfit to stand trial in June 2006 but experts agreed he had improved while treated at a state mental hospital. He returned to the jail that fall to await trial.