Judge: Mental Illness Caused Murder Of Grandfather
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) -- A Ramsey County judge has decided a Stillwater man was mentally ill and didn't realize the gravity of his fatal attack on his grandfather.
Thirty-year-old Timothy Novak was found not guilty of second-degree murder by reason of mental illness Monday. Novak was accused of choking and stabbing 83-year-old Eugene Novak at the grandfather's condominium in Roseville last August. Novak had been hospitalized for schizophrenia and was out on a one day pass from a transitional living center when he drove to his grandfather's place.
The St. Paul Pioneer Press reports Judge Dale Lindman ordered Novak be committed to Regions Hospital's psychiatric ward pending a referral of his case to probate court. A probate judge will determine whether Novak should be committed indefinitely.
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