A Hennepin County district judge found a 34-year-old man who killed his father with a knife and hammer in January not guilty by reason of mental illness.

As a result of Judge Carolina Lamas' ruling Friday, Anthony R. Jolson will remain civilly committed in the Minnesota Security Hospital in St. Peter. Lamas' decision came just two days after she took the case under advisement following a brief virtual trial. Jolson pleaded not guilty by reason of mental illness to one count of intentional second-degree murder in the death of 58-year-old Donald Lee Jolson on Jan. 13.

His trial was on stipulated facts and evidence, meaning prosecutors and Jolson's attorney Laura Johnson agreed to the facts and evidence for Lamas to consider in her verdict.

The father was found on the living room couch with head fractures and stab wounds to his neck and upper chest inside the family's home in south Minneapolis.

Police had to force their way in because Jolson refused to cooperate. His brother told police that Jolson said "the devil made me do it" and that he "sneak" attacked their father, according to criminal charges. The brother also said Jolson had recently been acting strangely, talking about the devil and COVID.