Jan. 13--A judge could rule in coming weeks whether Karl Sneider, who killed his mother and left her severed head on their porch, will gain new freedom 12 years after being found not guilty by reason of insanity.
Sneider has been in Elgin Mental Health Center since he beat his mother and attacked her with a knife in their Palatine home in 2003 after she told him she wanted to place him in a mental hospital.
Psychiatrists testified at his trial that he suffered from severe mental illness. He told police that he believed his mother was the devil.
In the past, some of their relatives have raised objections to requests for increased freedom for Sneider, such as unsupervised trips to a store or the library.
His lawyers are now trying to win a judge's approval for him to be released from the health center's forensic unit. A hearing on the matter was set for Wednesday at Cook County's Rolling Meadows branch court, but prosecutors were granted a continuance to Feb. 3.
