A clinical psychologist has testified that a man accused of viciously attacking a woman in McHenry’s Petersen Park was experiencing delusions and “command hallucinations” that are symptoms of his schizophrenic disorder.

Jacy Holmes, a licensed clinical psychologist and neuropsychologist, testified as an expert witness for the defense at the trial of Raymond Paul Link, 49. Link is charged with first-degree attempted murder and aggravated battery.

Link’s attorneys argue he is not guilty by reason of insanity, while prosecutors say he is guilty but mentally ill. One ruling would confine him to a mental health institute and the other to prison.

Holmes said Link also has bipolar disorder, delusions and hallucinations and that his mental illness caused him not to understand the criminality of his actions on May 5, 2024. That’s the day he beat, stomped and strangled – nearly killing – a 61-year-old woman who was walking a dog. She survived but has lifelong lasting injuries and testified earlier that Link “ruined my life.”

But, in her cross examination of Holmes Friday, McHenry County Assistant State’s Attorney Ashley Romito countered that despite Link’s mental illnesses, he understood the criminality of his actions and made choices that day to attack the woman.

He also knew what he was doing when he attacked the man who was in the park that day with his family and came to the woman’s rescue, Romito said.

Link’s case is being heard in a bench trial, meaning a judge, Tiffany Davis, will decide the verdict rather than jury. Testimony has progressed intermittently over the course of several months.

After the defense’s only witness testified, both sides rested their cases.

In closing statements, Romito stressed to Davis that Link made a choice and “clearly had a specific intent to kill” the woman that day and retaliate against the bystander who tried to stop him.

Had it not been for the man intervening and the woman receiving immediate medical attention, she “would have bled to death,” Romito said.

The prosecutor played excerpts of videos showing Link being interviewed by detectives following the attacks. He appeared hyper, agitated and his thoughts are unorganized and delusional. But Romito said that what he said is “exceptionally telling.”

He tells the detectives “mother” was speaking to him from the sky, that she formed clouds into hearts with arrows going through them and showed her face. He said “mother” told him he had to kill someone in the park that day and it could be the woman walking the dog or the man with his family.

“I had to pick just one: her or the family with a kid,” Link told the detectives.

He chose the woman.

“I set out to do the job that mother asked me to,” Link said.

Romito noted Link’s statements that he was angry and chose the woman with a dog on a leash because she “had an angel on a leash.”

Link said he “begged mom” and asked, “Do I really have to do this? Mother, I don’t want to do this.” He said he had to do it before “we roll the planet,” and also said, “there is nothing I hate worse than taking a life” and “I would not disobey a command from mother.”

Romito said such comments indicated “he strategically picked” his victim and “knew it would be wrong but chose not to disobey and deal with the consequences.”

Link made other statements during the police interview, including, “I hate being the Lord of death” and “I did not want to kill anyone. ... It sucks. It is the [expletive] job, but I had to do it.”

The video shows Link making more statements that Romito said prove he made the “choice” to attack the woman and the man who came to help her. “He clearly understood it was wrong. ... It is a criminal act.”

Romito argued that “bizarre behavior or delusional statements” do not “compel a finding of insanity or equal legal insanity.”

She said Link, who against his doctor’s advice ingested THC and did not take his prescribed medication, may have believed “mother” was telling him to do these things, “but he knew it was wrong. ... Psychosis does not equal insanity.”

But Link’s attorney, Assistant Public Defender Matthew Feda, pushed back on the prosecutor’s argument.

Feda told the judge: “I am not contesting that this was clearly horrific, heinous, unimaginable.”

But the question is did Link “appreciate the criminality of his actions? Was he insane at the time?” Feda said.

Feda said the videos “show he is suffering an acute mental defect. It is clear as day, he does not appreciate the criminality of his actions. He is taking orders from ‘mother.’ He is nonsensical ... clearly out of his mind. Completely detached from reality.”

Davis will render her verdict June 24.