Judge: Dixon school shooter unfit to stand trial

DIXON – Deteriorating mental health conditions have again prompted a judge to rule the Dixon High School shooter unfit to stand trial.

Matthew A. Milby Jr., 20, in custody since the shooting on May 16, 2018, was first declared unfit for trial in March after refusing to eat for several months to the point where he was hospitalized.

He was transferred to the Elgin Mental Health Center and slowly showed signs of improvement over time – becoming more vocal and social as well as gaining weight – leading to him being declared fit for trial in Lee County Court in early September, forensic psychologist James “Matthew” Finn said Tuesday morning during a fitness hearing.

Milby was taken back to the old Lee County Jail and eventually moved to the new Lee County Law Enforcement Center, where he again began to refuse to eat regularly or take medications.

He was diagnosed in Elgin with schizotypal personality disorder, with symptoms including severe social anxiety and odd or unusual beliefs that can worsen into delusional thinking, impacting behavior and the level he’s able to function, Finn said. Milby was prescribed anti-psychotic and anti-depressant medications.

Finn, who’s assessed Milby three times during the past year, with the latest interview taking place earlier this month, said he concluded that Milby was unfit for trial at this time.

Jail Superintendent Jack Skrogstad testified that Milby stopped eating again some time after being at the new jail, and he informed their medical team and put him in an area where his eating habits could be better monitored. Skrogstad said he also made Milby’s attorney, Thomas Murray of Dixon, aware once Milby began refusing his medications.

Milby has been eating fairly consistently recently, and has often said that “I just want to go back to Elgin,” Skrogstad said.

Assistant State’s Attorney Brian Brim argued that Milby’s behavior showed that he was “gaming the system a bit” by voluntarily making himself unfit for trial so he could be transferred back to the Elgin facility, taking “another step to trying to get out of jail.”

Murray said Brim’s argument showed a complete misunderstanding of Milby’s condition.

“This is not someone trying to work the system; this is someone who’s seriously ill,” Murray said.

Judge John Redington said they were there to determine his fitness, and the testimony did not clearly state whether Milby made a conscious decision to stop taking his medication to get out of jail.

He ruled Milby unfit to stand trial due to mental illness. Milby will be taken back to Elgin, where his condition will be reassessed. His next court hearing is scheduled for 9 a.m. March 17.

Investigators say Milby, then a DHS senior, took a 9mm semi-automatic rifle to graduation practice in the Lancaster Gym the morning of May 16, fired at gym teacher Andrew McKay, whom he encountered in a hallway, and fled seconds later when confronted and pursued by Dixon Police school resource officer Mark Dallas.

Milby fired at Dallas outside the gym; Dallas returned fire, hitting Milby in the upper shoulder and hip. Milby was arrested near his car in Page Park. No one else was injured.

He is charged with two counts of attempted murder and four counts involving aggravated discharge of a firearm. The charge involving Dallas carries 20 to 80 years in prison, with a potential 20-year enhancement; the other carries 6 to 30 years in prison, plus 20 years. The first two counts of aggravated discharge of a firearm carry 10 to 45 years; the other two 6 to 30 years. All require him to serve at least 85 percent.

Milby also is charged with two counts of aggravated battery and one of misdemeanor battery after investigators say he got into a brawl Aug. 31, 2018, with two other Lee County Jail inmates, climbed onto the back of one and tried to strangle him, and struck another. Neither of them were charged.

The felony is punishable by 2 to 5 years in prison on each count.