Zachary Neiman listened when voices told him he should kill his mother, and more than a year later, he still believes them, family members say.
But doctors say Neiman, 26, who suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, shows signs of competency and may be ready to stand trial for the July 2006 slaying of his mother, Rae Bajus, at her Pasadena home.
Neiman?s grandmother Frances Pyles disputed that. “He has a long way to go,” she said. “He still feels he was supposed to shoot his mother. … He still believes in the voices.”
But, she said, he wants to go to court because he longs for an outcome to the case.
Neiman?s trial was postponed in August because he stopped taking his medication. He is being held at a state psychiatric facility, the Clifton T. Perkins Hospital Center in Jessup, where he began refusing food and water in September, according to court records.
“He planned to starve himself to death. He wanted to die and to be with his mother. They were so close,” Pyles said.
But Howard Circuit Court records indicate Neiman is taking his medication and eating without a feeding tube, proving his ability to make responsible decisions.
Prosecutors hope to move up the date of a competency review hearing, now scheduled for March, said Kristin Riggin, spokeswoman for the State?s Attorney?s Office.
Neiman?s mother and stepfather, David Bajus, were sitting together on a living room sofa in July 2006 when he allegedly entered their Pasadena home and fired a shotgun, killing his 53-year-old mother.
When he mentioned voices and his family realized it was more than depression, it was too late. He shot his mother before they could get him help, Pyles said.
“It?s very strange to talk to your grandson and not even know who he is,” Pyles said. “He was just the sweetest little boy.”
Neiman?s childhood was rocked by drug and alcohol use, abuse by a family member and his parents? divorce, Pyles said.
“Zachary is a very troubled young man. He has had a lot of things happen to him, and all these things led up to this,” she said. “He?s very sick.”
Pyles said the shooting divided the family because Neiman shows no remorse.
