A psychologist with the state diagnosed a Freeland man accused of murdering his mother with schizotypal personality disorder and other mental health issues, according to court documents.
Prosecutors charged 32-year-old Justin Wiener in Island County Superior Court Nov. 20 with murder in the first degree. He is being held in jail on $1 million bail.
Wiener is accused of stabbing his mother, 53-year-old Brenda Wiener, to death on Nov. 17 inside the RV that they both lived in, according to a detective’s report. He then walked to Nichols Bro. Boat Builders covered in blood, announced he had hurt someone and waited for police to arrive, the report states.
Amy Parsons, a licensed psychologist, conducted a forensic mental health evaluation of Wiener and opined that he likely has the capacity to understand that nature of the legal proceedings and has the capacity to assist his attorney. He has no past criminal history.
Nonetheless, Parsons diagnosed Wiener with schizotypal personality disorder, delusional disorder and cannabis use disorder.
The report describes Parsons’ troubled mind and delusions. The evaluation does not discuss the crime or the possible motive, but it describes his paranoid thoughts about his mother and others. He spoke at length about the water being poisoned and water bottles changing colors.
While Wiener reported that he had not previously been diagnosed with a mental disorder, a health provider had noted that he presents with “hypochondria and/or other delusional health disorders,” the report states.
Parsons wrote that Wiener believes that he has a serious but undiagnosed physical ailment and has experienced “wakeful comas” that he thinks may be caused by a rare fungal infection. He even purchased a professional microscope to study what he believed to be “a fungal infection that cannot be detected by medical professionals because of the particular composition of the bacteria,” the psychologist wrote.
Wiener was not employed at the time of the murder; he smoked pot every day and played video games about 10 hours a day, the report states.
In jail, Wiener was moved to a different block for his safety after other inmates complained that he made them uncomfortable by talking about “his crime,” according to the report.
