Waukesha - A 50-year-old Waukesha man pleaded guilty Thursday to stabbing his girlfriend to death in June 2009 and a judge, rather than a jury, will decide during a trial in November whether he was criminally insane at the time of the killing.
Daniel K. Christesen was convicted Thursday by Waukesha County Circuit Judge James R. Kieffer of first-degree intentional homicide in the death of Carol Fisher, 55.
Christesen repeatedly stabbed Fisher with a 10-inch butcher knife in his Waukesha apartment, according to a criminal complaint.
The first-degree intentional homicide charge carries a mandatory life sentence.
However, if Christesen's attorney, Donna J. Kuchler, can prove at the November trial that Christesen had a mental disease or defect at the time of the slaying, he would receive treatment in a secure state mental health institution rather than being sent to prison.
The state will argue during the trial that Christesen was not insane at the time of the killing. Deputy District Attorney Stephen J. Centinario Jr. is handling the case for the state.
On Thursday when he entered his plea of guilty, Christesen told Kieffer that he has been treated for mental health problems since he was 13. Christesen currently is on medication, and he told the judge he understands the proceedings.
That is a change from December, when Kieffer determined during a hearing that Christesen was incompetent to stand trial and committed him to the state Department of Health Services for mental health treatment.
By late February, though, it was determined that Christesen was competent for the case to proceed.
The focus of the trial, which begins Nov. 1, will be on the testimony of mental health experts who examined Christesen or will examine him. The court on Thursday granted Centinario's request to have another mental health expert examine Christesen before the trial gets under way.
The primary issues at the trial will be whether Christesen suffered from a mental disease when he killed Fisher and whether that disease prevented him from understanding or obeying the law.