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Crime & Safety

Judge: Man Charged with Killing Father Unfit for Trial

Yashesh Desai, 21, of Woodridge, is headed to a state facility for treatment in hopes he will be fit for trail within a year.

Editor's note: Woodridge is a southwest suburb of Chicago, IL. 

Shackled at the hands and feet, wearing a yellow jail jumpsuit and heavy beard, Yashesh Desai entered the courtroom Friday to the cries of his mother.

Making his first court appearance after repeated refusals to do so, 21-year-old Desai was deemed unfit to stand trial on charges and then . Judge Robert Kleeman cited psychiatric reports and the testimony that said Desai is experiencing “psychotic episodes” and showing “bizarre” behaviors.

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“I find the defendant is unable to understand the proceedings,” Kleeman said. “He is unfit to stand trial.”

Neither prosecutors nor Desai’s public defender disagreed with Kleeman’s decision, as both sides stipulated to the findings of Dr. John Murray who met with Desai twice in October. Kleeman’s decision sets in motion plans to move Desai into a secured downstate Illinois Department of Health Services facility for treatment with a goal of restoring his fitness within a year.

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Earlier, Kleeman signed off on an order allowing DuPage County Jail officials to use force if necessary to bring Desai to court. Kleeman said the fitness hearing was too important to be held without him present even if Desai didn’t understand what was happening.

During the hearing, Desai mumbled to himself at times. He squinted his eyes as he looked into the gallery and, at different times, either smiled or moved his lips as if were attempting whistle. His mother gasped loudly when Desai first entered the courtroom and wept for much of the hearing. At one point, she stretched her hand forward and said, “My baby.”

Prosecutors allege Desai struck his father, Sanjiv, in the head several times with a weed trimmer, . Police responded to a 911 call from a person who said his father had been killed and found Sanjiv Desai lying on a futon.

While being held in DuPage County Jail on $2.2 million bail, Desai reportedly as he tried to move Desai, according to prosecutors.

Prosecutors said they would submit approximately 1,500 pages of case documents to DHS to help their officials determine a treatment plan for Desai. Among those documents are treatment records from the University of Illinois, where Desai attended college at one time, and from facilities in the DuPage County area.

Kleeman scheduled a Dec. 2 hearing to update the status on the DHS evaluation and the timetable for Desai to be transported to one of their facilities.

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