Waukesha - A 51-year-old Waukesha man on Wednesday was committed to a state secure mental health institution for life for killing his girlfriend after a judge concluded the man suffered from a mental disease that prevented him from understanding the wrongfulness of his behavior and from obeying the law.
Daniel K. Christesen was convicted in July by Waukesha County Circuit Judge James R. Kieffer of first-degree intentional homicide in the June 2009 stabbing death of Carol Fisher, 55.
At the time, Christesen admitted he killed Fisher, but his attorney asked the judge for a bench trial to determine whether Christesen was criminally insane at the time of the killing.
That trial lasted about 1 1/2 weeks and concluded Wednesday.
Prosecutors contended that Christesen was not insane at the time of the killing.
Christesen repeatedly stabbed Fisher with a 10-inch butcher knife, according to a criminal complaint.
Fisher and Christesen lived in separate flats in a duplex in the 900 block of Arcadian Ave. - he in the upper and she in the lower. Police say Christesen contacted them the evening of the killing to say that he fatally stabbed Fisher at the duplex.
Christesen peacefully surrendered to police, a Bible in one hand, a phone in the other, the complaint says. He asked emergency medical personnel: "Do you think I will go to hell for this?"
He admitted he had not taken all of his psychiatric medications that day, the complaint says.
Kieffer noted that three doctors agreed that Christesen suffers from a mental disease and that the defense met its burden of proof that Christesen was suffering from a mental disease at the time of this killing.
Kieffer concluded that Christesen lacked the substantial capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of his behavior and to conform to the requirements of the law, according to court records.