A hearing will be held Wednesday to determine if Bramlett Hamilton will stand trial for the murder of his mother, 66-year-old MSU Professor Ruth Simms Hamilton.
During that hearing, a judge will rule if Bramlett Hamilton, 36, is innocent by reason of insanity.
The hearing comes on the heels of a completed psychiatric evaluation of Bramlett Hamilton and a competency hearing in which a judge deemed him able to stand trial.
The results of Bramlett Hamilton's psychiatric evaluation, released last month, were reviewed by 55th District Court Judge Thomas Brennan Jr., who determined his competency during a hearing earlier this month.
Bramlett Hamilton and his lawyer, Vincent Green, waived the right to a preliminary examination at the March 4 hearing, and the case was referred to 30th Judicial Circuit Court, where Wednesday's trial will take place.
A doctor who completed the psychiatric evaluation last month determined Bramlett Hamilton to be mentally capable to stand trial, but criminally insane at the time of the murder. In the report, the doctor acknowledged that Bramlett Hamilton is dealing with certain mental disorders.
Green told the judge on March 4 that Hamilton, a former lawyer, has been oriented and aware of what was happening while he awaited his trial.
"He understands the role of the jury, judge and court ? and how he can assist me," Green said.
Following the March 4 hearing, Green said he is confident the judge will rule in favor of his client and find Bramlett Hamilton insane at the time of the murder. The judge will make his decision based on Bramlett Hamilton's evaluation, police reports and the nature of the crime.
"It's highly unlikely the judge will disagree with the findings," Green said.
If the judge does not find Hamilton insane at the time of the murder, he will go to trial, although Green said it isn't probable. Should he be convicted of the crime, he could face up to life in prison.
Ingham County Prosecutor Stuart Dunnings III said he couldn't comment on what he thinks the judge will find on Wednesday.
"I would never be so presumptuous as to say I would know what a judge would do," he said.
When an accused murderer pleads not guilty by reason of insanity, Dunnings said it's uncommon for a judge to rule in his or her favor.
Green said if his client is found insane at the time of the murder, he will be sent back to the Center for Forensic Psychiatry in Ann Arbor, where his original evaluation took place, for an assessment of his mental health.
Review hearings would take place periodically, Dunnings said, and when doctors deem Bramlett Hamilton cured of his mental illness, he could go back to trial for the murder.
Bramlett Hamilton was charged in November with the murder of his mother, Ruth Simms Hamilton, who was found stabbed in her Meridian Township home. The night of the murder, Nov. 11, Bramlett Hamilton turned himself in to authorities, but pleaded innocent by reason of insanity at his arraignment the following day.
Ruth Simms Hamilton worked at MSU for 35 years and was the director of MSU's African Diaspora Project.
At the time of her death, she was in the process of finalizing Routes of Passage, an 11-volume series on the topic. A diaspora is any scattering of people with a common origin, background or beliefs.
Since her death, faculty members are continuing her work and releasing several volumes of her research.
