Day 2 of hearing for confessed murderer

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) - The hearing to determine if Jeremy Bentley, who confessed to a murder in 2000, should be released resumed Friday.

Bentley has been in a mental health facility for the last seven years, and according to his doctor, he is no longer insane.

Bentley confessed he killed a man "just to see what it was like, the thrill.”

Bentley and David Kabat kidnapped 24-year-old Jamie Tolbert from a bar in Biloxi.

Tolbert's body was later found in a wooded area near Grand Bay. He had been beaten and strangled.

Bentley was sentenced to life without parole. However, that sentence was appealed. That's when he was found not guilty by reason of mental disease.

Bentley was treated at the Taylor Hardin Facility in Tuscaloosa. The Alabama Department of Mental Health said he is no longer insane and should be released.

Mobile County District Attorney Ashley Rich said if Bentley is found to be sane, he will be a free man and cannot be retried.

As the trial resumed on Friday, forensic psychologist Dr. Maryann Rosenzweig took the stand.

Rosenzweig spent 22 hours face to face with Bentley in 2001.

Stressing importance of historical records, experts for the defense said Rosenzweig testimony about the time in 2001 wasn't relevant. The defense said what is important is "here and now."

Reciting from medical records, Rosenzweig discusses Bentley’s mental health history before he was in the legal system.

According to his medical records, Bentley was impatient at a psychiatric hospital for four and a half months at the age of 12. According to the documents, Bentley had an argument with family members, struck them both, and then tried to kill himself.

Records show he was diagnosed with conduct disorder, and his father was mentally and physically abusive.

Medical records said Bentley’s mom said since he was 4 years old, Bentley would have nightmares of witches coming to get him.

Bentley’s mom and sister said he was so aggressive as a child no one would play with him. They said Bentley would say voices would tell him he had to fight, and bad things would happen if he didn't fight.

According to records, when Bentley was 18 years old, he told his mom he was one of seven chosen to fight against evil and the government.  

Rosenzweig said records show Bentley was admitted to Frye Medical Center in North Carolina for a month after an intentional overdose.

Still, according to records, Bentley had not had any legal troubles at this point.

Bentley was admitted into another facility after smashing a car into an officer. Recordings show the incident was attempted suicide.

Rosenzweig said while at the facility, Bentley was examined to determine his sanity.

In her testimony, Rosenzweig said according to documents Bentley told a nurse at the facility he was one of the chosen seven and tried to kill himself because of his destiny. He said he couldn’t because he had to overthrow the network that controls the government.

Rosenzweig testified that tests indicated Bentley had paranoia, narcissism, and immaturity.

Rosenzweig said according to documents, the doctor didn’t believe he was faking because Bentley didn’t hesitant to discuss things, and Bentley didn’t try to connect his actions with his believes about the government and conspiracy.

“He suffers from paranoid schizophrenia and probable DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder )," Rosenzweig said.

Rosenzweig said that some doctors don't believe in DID and do wouldn't look for it.

According to the National Association of Mental Illness, Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) is a dissociative disorder involving a disturbance of identity in which two or more separate and distinct personality states (or identities) control the individual's behavior at different times.

“ (It's) not uncommon that within the personality system some alters can not come out for years,” Rosenzweig said. ‘My belief is there are one or more alters that are higher functioning that can control the symptoms.”

Rosenzweig explained reports when Bentley went into the hospital in 2005. She said he told a nurse he heard voices when he wasn’t on medication. He also told the nurse he was meant to fight Armageddon, he heard people laughing at him, and though the government had put a chip in his eye.

Rosenzweig said according to medical records, Bentley said the demons were back in 2007.

Kathleen Anne Ronan took the witness stand late Friday. Ronan is a psychologist who has interviewed Bentley.

Ronan said in her last interview with Bentley, he was different. She said he had a new confidence, and seemed more in control, but was doing a lot of “parroting”—quoting what he had heard from the staff.

Ronan said Bentley told her he didn’t come up with the fact that he lied; the staff kept asking him about it, so he said he was faking.

Ronan said she believes Bentley developed DID after being abused by his father, and that Bentley had tried to hang himself with his shoelaces after the abuse.

Ronan said she doesn’t see where he had been treated for