| Court-assigned psychiatric experts advised Amherst Town Justice Mark G. Farrell on Tuesday that Jeremy M. Perkins, 28, charged with fatally stabbing his mother, is "seriously" ill but mentally fit for court proceedings. The two psychiatric experts recently examined Perkins in connection with the March 13 slaying of his mother, Ellie Perkins, 54, in the family's Hopkins Road home. After receiving their reports, Farrell scheduled a felony hearing -- the needed precursor to grand jury review of the case -- for Thursday. John R. Nuchereno, Perkins' lawyer, said he agreed with the findings of the court experts "especially with the conclusion that Jeremy has been suffering from paranoid schizophrenia for some time." Perkins, who has been in custody since his arrest several hours after the slaying, "is a seriously ill individual," Nuchereno said.Perkins reportedly developed schizophrenia about a year ago and was being treated through nutrition, vitamins and some medical therapy, according friends of the family. |