Man on trial in roommate's death

<p>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.</p><p>The evidence will show “that he has a history of severe mental illness,” Carter told jurors.</p><p>Roberts has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to killing Ruth Donaldson, 62, in October 2006.</p><p>He reportedly told authorities and his family that God killed Donaldson through him, a point made by Carter as the trial got underway.</p><p>Roberts’ family has said he suffers from paranoid schizophrenia.</p><p>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.”</p><p>Jurors will first determine whether Roberts, of Clearlake, is guilty of killing Donaldson, Hopkins said prior to the trial. </p><p>If jurors find him guilty, the jury will then determine whether or not he was sane at the time of the killing, he said.</p><p>Roberts and Donaldson had lived in a mobile home on Mullen Avenue in Clearlake along with Roberts’ mother, his aunt and her husband.</p><p>The trial continues in Lakeport this afternoon with prosecution witnesses.</p>