Psychologists called by the defense testified Friday that Mario McNeill exhibited bizarre behavior, believing in a spiritual energy he called Sophia and having an electromagnetic field connection with jurors.
McNeill, the doctors concluded, is not at this time mentally competent to stand trial in the rape and murder of 5-year-old Shaniya Davis.
The prosecution countered, calling two psychologists who said they had not found McNeill to be delusional in their evaluations during the last week.
Senior Resident Superior Court Judge Jim Ammons agreed with the prosecution's doctors: McNeill has the capacity to proceed to trial.
McNeill, 32, is accused of raping and killing Shaniya in November 2009. He could face death if found guilty of first-degree murder.
Opening statements are expected to be heard when court resumes at 9:30 a.m. Monday.
Before recessing for the day Friday, Ammons said he would delay judgment until Monday on a motion by McNeill's lawyers to prevent prosecutors from telling the jury that McNeill knew where Shaniya's body had been hidden.
The trial's opening statements were supposed to have begun Monday, but the case was delayed after McNeill's lawyers requested the mental evaluations. The lawyers said they became concerned with McNeill's demeanor during jury selection.
They said they had noticed he would sometimes sit rigid, staring straight ahead, and appear to be asleep or in a trance.
Lawyer Harold "Butch" Pope said it was hard to know what McNeill was thinking.
"We've got to deal with Sophia, electromagnetic fields, aura. We've got to deal with that when making decisions," Pope told Ammons during his summary statements. "I would argue the court not to proceed. He is not capable of that. We're in a jar."
From their evaluations, Dr. James Hilkey of Durham and Dr. George Patrick Corbin of Raleigh spoke of a defendant suffering from a schizotypal personality disorder. They said they had observed his bizarre behavior.
The Mayo Clinic's website describes the characteristics of schizotypal personality disorder as someone who is isolated and generally doesn't understand how relationships form or the effect of their behavior on others.
Hilkey said McNeill had talked of Sophia, a so-called supernatural deity and an aspect of his own spiritual energy named for a Greek word for wisdom. McNeill spoke of having a special connection, sensing the sharing of an electromagnetic field with three jurors. And he told of seeing numbers in his dreams.
McNeill believes he has held special powers since he was 6 or 7, Hilkey said, and that he's able to predict things before they occur. Among them, McNeill said he could determine the sex of a baby before the child was born.
Hilkey called this "delusional thinking, odd beliefs, magical thinking, unusual perception and experiences."
The behavior, Hilkey and Corbin testified, seems to have been acerbated since the trial started April 8. The stress, they reasoned, could play a factor.
Corbin likened the trial to putting "a magnifying glass on the effects he has."
Hilkey, like the other three psychologists, is an expert in forensic psychology. In earlier evaluations, Hilkey said, he concluded that McNeill had the capacity to proceed. But after spending about two hours with him on April 20 in the Cumberland County Detention Center - at the request of defense lawyer Terry Alford - Hilkey said he was wavering on that assessment.
"There is some doubt in my mind," he said. "I am not absolutely sure in my mind he has the capacity to proceed."
Hilkey said he had met with McNeill on seven occasions since Oct. 29, 2011, spending about 16 hours overall evaluating his mental state.
The psychologist said it is now his belief that McNeill's personality disorder disrupts him from being able to assist and represent himself in court.
Corbin, too, concluded that McNeill had "a number of odd perception beliefs." It was thinking, he pointed out, that a vast majority of defendants don't possess.
The four doctors agreed that McNeill understands the judicial process, perhaps better than most laymen. And they shared the belief that he's brighter than most defendants they have evaluated.
"He was adamant that he does not have a mental problem," Hilkey said. "He was anxious to proceed with the trial. His thinking was that if the trial waited longer, he would be older when he is released back to the community. He wanted the capacity to proceed."
The prosecution called psychologists Steve Peters of Cherry Hospital in Goldsboro and Mark Hazelrigg of Central Regional Hospital in Butner.
"I felt he is capable to proceed," said Peters, who found no significant mental illness following a 45-minute evaluation of McNeill on Monday.
"Any psychotic thoughts that gave you concern?" prosecutor Robby Hicks asked him.
"No," Peters said. "I did not find him to be delusional at all."
After a lunch break, testimony began on whether McNeill ever had a deal with prosecutors to save him from the death penalty if he revealed the location of Shaniya's body. The state says no such deal existed in the days after the murder.
Cumberland County District Attorney Billy West has said prosecutors want to tell the jury in opening statements that McNeill's information showed that he knew where the remains could be found, in thick woods off N.C. 87 in Harnett County.
The defense contends that lawyers who initially represented McNeill had a deal with prosecutors that he wouldn't be tried in a capital case if he helped searchers find her.
Prosecutors called Fayetteville Assistant Police Chief Charles Kimble to the stand. Kimble testified that he was never aware of any deal. In questioning, he described how information about where to look for the body was relayed to police through McNeill's lawyers, Coy Brewer and Allen Rogers.
Kimble said that during two or three phone calls with Brewer and Rogers, he was told to look for an area with green portable toilets on N.C. 87. Shaniya's body was found concealed under a log and kudzu, about 15 to 20 yards off the shoulder of Walker Road.
McNeill's name never came up in the conversation, Kimble testified, but he had no doubt that's where the tip originated.
In their testimony, Rogers and Brewer initially declined to discuss their conversations with McNeill, citing attorney-client privilege. Brewer declined to confirm on the stand whether he ever represented McNeill.
Ammons lifted the privilege for this motion and ordered Rogers to answer questions.
Rogers said he had talked with McNeill about assisting with the search for Shaniya's body, that down the road his help could allow him to avoid death by lethal injection.
He said McNeill gave him the authority to pass on the information. But defense lawyer Alford said Rogers didn't have the authority to say the information came from McNeill.
"He exceeded authority," Alford maintained. "That just smacks of something wrong, judge."
Ammons said he was going to take the matter under advisement during the weekend. "You need to convince me one way or the other," he told prosecutors and McNeill's lawyers.
McNeill faces seven charges, including first-degree murder and first-degree rape of a child.
Shaniya's mother, Antoniette Nicole Davis, 28, faces similar charges and is awaiting trial. She does not face the death penalty if convicted.
Staff writer Michael Futch can be reached at futchm@fayobserver.com or 486-3529.