Mario McNeill's Mental Evaluations Deem He Stands Competent for Trial

The jury panel were set to begin Mario McNeill's trial on Monday, April 22 but it was postponed for the defendant to undergo a mental evaluation due to some strange behavior inside the courtroom. 

A team of four psychiatrists corroborated on a final outcome following various evaluations and determined that McNeill did suffer from three diagnosed disorders: schizo-typal, narcissistic, and anti-social personalities.

Dr. James Hilkey took the stand Friday morning and testified that he administered an extensive battery of psychological evaluations that included personality assessments, a self-report inventory and even test of malingering.

One of McNeill's behaviors that prompted the evaluation was when he appeared to be asleep, with a "waxy" posture, rigid with his eyes closed. McNeill explained to Hilkey that by cutting off his sense of sight, when closing his eyes, it heightened his other senses.

McNeill revealed to Hilkey in the two-hour evaluation that at that time he had identified with "Sophia", a deity, god or alien who represented wisdom in his mind.

The psychiatrist shared that information on file predating the trial, McNeill said he had experienced special powers at the age of 6 or 7 years old when he could sense things that occurred before they happened and he was known in his neighborhood for forecasting events including the sex of unborn babies. 

"Anyone could enhance their ability to have paranormal experiences by curtailing the liquids that they took in, and decreasing meat intake, which he referred to as the Daniel diet, referencing Daniel in the old testament that used the practice to enhance clairvoyant or extra paranormal experiences," said Dr. Hilkey of his conversations with McNeill.

Dr. Hilkey said that McNeill denied that he was crazy was happy with the jury selection even going as far to say that he had a special connection with three of the jury members and that they would be helpful in his case. This was base on that there were electromagnetic fields inside the courtroom helpful to his potential defense strategy.

During one session, McNeill expressed that he wanted to get on with the trial because he was getting older and would be older by the time he was released.

Dr. Hilkey spent a total of 16 hours over 5 visits between October 2011 through January 2013 evaluating McNeill where he also reviewed his family background and found no documented mental health history in McNeill's past.

"If anything, there was a tendency for McNeill to minimize or to deny psychological problems," said Hilkey of the test outcomes. "The generic term is called 'faking good'."