A man charged with a 2019 fatal stabbing at a Joliet casino hotel plans to rely on the insanity defense in his case that is now scheduled for trial on May 1.

The case against Robert Watson, 29, was continued for trial on May 1 at his request, according to Will County State’s Attorney spokeswoman Carole Cheney. The trial is expected to last one week, she said.

“Defendant received a sanity report on Monday and sought time to evaluate it,” Cheney said.

Watson is charged with the first-degree murder of Emanuel Burgarino, 76, on March 24, 2019, at the Harrah’s casino hotel in downtown Joliet. He’s accused of fatally stabbing Burgarino multiple times.

On Jan. 27, Watson’s attorney, Shenonda Tisdale, also filed a disclosure to the prosecution that in addition to the presumption of innocence, Watson also intends to rely upon the defense of insanity.

Under state law, a person is not criminally responsible for conduct if it was the result of a mental disease or mental defect or he lacks substantial capacity to appreciate the criminality of his conduct at the time.

Watson’s trial was originally scheduled for begin on Monday.

Last week, Will County Judge Dave Carlson had denied a motion for a continuance from Tisdale, who asked for yet another psychologist to perform a sanity evaluation on Watson.

Both parties in the Watson case has been dealing with issues of whether he is fit to stand trial.

A jury in 2020 found Watson mentally fit to stand trial. Carlson himself also found Watson fit to stand trial on Sept. 9.

In the 2020 hearing before the jury, Dr. Anna Stapleton testified that Watson was fit to stand trial while Dr. Monica Argumedo testified he was unfit for trial because of his mental illness and his inability to assist his attorneys in his defense.

During the fitness hearing, Argumedo said her “clinical impression” was that Watson appeared to suffer from a psychotic mental illness because he gave a “thousand-yard stare,” he said he hears demons telling him to kill himself, and he said he’s not able to eat the food at the jail because he believed the guards were poisoning and spitting in the food.

She said she didn’t get the impression Watson was faking a mental illness and the “thousand-yard stare” is not often faked.

Stapleton testified at the same hearing that there was no indication from records on Watson that he was diagnosed with a psychotic disorder. She said he attempted to portray himself as cognitively deficient by claiming he had a learning disability and personality disorder when he was in school.

Stapleton said Watson also told her he would see and hear football stadiums, which she said was odd because the majority of hallucinations observed with schizophrenic and psychotic disorders are “persecutory in nature.”