People v. Robin, No. 1-99-3426

1st District, March 31, 2000

FOURTH DIVISION

JUSTICE SOUTH delivered the opinion of the court:

Defendant was charged for the August 1988, murders of his wife and daughter. He used an axe in the killing of his wife and drowned their daughter. Defendant was admitted to the Elgin Mental Health Center (Elgin) in November 1988, after a finding that he was unfit to stand trial. On April 21, 1989, defendant was found fit to stand trial. After a bench trial, he was adjudicated not guilty of the murders by reason of insanity (NGRI), and readmitted to Elgin.

On September 17, 1999, the trial court granted defendant's conditional release pursuant to a recommendation plan submitted by the Department of Human Services (DHS). The plan as presented was accepted by the court but modified to include, among other conditions, blood testing twice a month for lithium levels. The State's motion to reconsider was denied.

Previously, on March 26, 1992, a recommendation for release was submitted to the circuit court by DHS on defendant's behalf. This recommendation was amended to a request for unsupervised off-ground passes. A hearing on this matter was held and the circuit court heard extensive testimony from psychiatrists opposed to the recommendation as well as from psychiatrists in support of the recommendation. This court affirmed the circuit court's denial of the recommendation in People v. Robin, 264 Ill. App. 3d 936 (1994).

The following testimony was adduced at the hearing on the instant petition for conditional release:

The State called Dr. Linda Gruenberg, a board certified psychiatrist, and Dr. Randi Zoot, a psychologist, as witnesses. Dr. Gruenberg received numerous documents generated by various agencies which had dealt with defendant in preparation for her interviews with him. She interviewed defendant for a total of 7