WARWICK, R.I. (AP) — A forensic psychiatrist says a man had a psychotic break when he beat a Rhode Island man to death and shouldn’t be held criminally responsible.
The Providence Journal reports that defense witness Dr. Mark Stewart testified Wednesday that Christian Lepore had been experiencing delusions that he was being directed by aliens before he killed 62-year-old John O’Neil last May.
Stewart says Lepore was “acutely delusional” and couldn’t tell the difference between right and wrong.
Police say the 35-year-old Lepore was naked when he walked onto O’Neil’s property apparently at random and beat him to death in West Greenwich.
A state toxicologist testified earlier Wednesday that no drugs had been detected in Lepore’s blood samples after O’Neil’s death.
Prosecutors are seeking a first-degree murder conviction from the judge.
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