Psychologist will meet again with Waukegan man accused of locking daughter in basement
Randy Swopes, the Waukegan man accused of locking his 10-year-old daughter in a basement because he believed she was demonically possessed, will be reevaluated by a court-appointed psychologist this week.
Defense attorney Eric Rinehart asked Lake County Judge Christopher Stride on Tuesday to allow Swopes to have another meeting with the psychologist who wrote a 10-page report in July that said Swopes was unfit.
Based on recent conversations with his client, Rinehart said he felt Swopes has improved.
“I think he's doing well. I think he understands the issues,” Rinehart said.
Swopes will meet with the psychologist Friday and will be back before Stride next week.
Swopes, 49, and his wife, Katherine, were charged July 17, 2018, with child endangerment and unlawful restraint for locking their daughter in the basement of their single-family house on the 200 block of Liberty Street, authorities said. Police officers discovered the girl was forced to live in the basement because the parents believed she was “possessed by a demon,” police said.
Katherin Swopes pleaded guilty in May and was sentenced to 30 months of probation and 12 months of periodic imprisonment as part of a plea deal approved by Lake County Judge Victoria Rossetti.
Randy Swopes remains in Lake County jail on $750,000 bail.
He was deemed unfit to stand trial during a rare “fitness trial” in December. The proceeding included testimony from a psychologist who said Swopes believed current and former United States presidents and other politicians sneaked into his house at night and sexually assaulted him and his family as they slept.
After the one-day trial, Swopes was transferred to a state public health facility. Under state law, a person is mentally unfit if he or she cannot understand the court proceedings or assist in his or her defense. After a month in a mental health facility, he was deemed mentally fit and returned to Lake County jail in January.
In June, Rossetti ordered Swopes again be evaluated for fitness after he filed bizarre documents that she said contained “drawings and words and numbers which make absolutely no sense to this court.”
In July, Stride ordered Swopes be represented by Rinehart, who had previously served as advisory attorney to Swopes when Swopes was still able to defend himself.