Man on trial in roommate's death

LAKEPORT — James Wade Roberts, 46, was suffering from hallucinations when he killed his roommate, said defense attorney Steve Carter, on the first day of Roberts’ murder trial in Lake County.

The evidence will show “that he has a history of severe mental illness,” Carter told jurors.

Roberts has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to killing Ruth Donaldson, 62, in October 2006.

He reportedly told authorities and his family that God killed Donaldson through him, a point made by Carter as the trial got underway.

Roberts’ family has said he suffers from paranoid schizophrenia.

But prosecutor John Hopkins said Roberts killed “with deliberation and premeditation.” He told jurors that Roberts wrapped a rope around the victim’s neck and stabbed her in the abdomen.”

Jurors will first determine whether Roberts, of Clearlake, is guilty of killing Donaldson, Hopkins said prior to the trial.

If jurors find him guilty, the jury will then determine whether or not he was sane at the time of the killing, he said.

Roberts and Donaldson had lived in a mobile home on Mullen Avenue in Clearlake along with Roberts’ mother, his aunt and her husband.

The trial continues in Lakeport this afternoon with prosecution witnesses.