Mental Illness Phase Ends in Mankato Murder Trial

MANKATO, Minn. (AP) - The mental illness phase has wrapped up in the trial of a man who was convicted of killing a Mankato woman.

Reports say prosecutors and defense attorneys both rested their cases Thursday in the mental illness phase of Levi Minissale's trial.

Minissale was convicted last week of killing Yesenia "Sunny" Gonzalez with a knife in June 2013. He was also convicted of attempting to kill her husband, Gallo Buccio Ruiz.

In testimony Thursday, two former medical directors of the St. Peter Security Hospital both agreed Minissale has a form of schizophrenia, but they differed on whether he knew that what he was doing was morally wrong.

Jurors could begin deliberating Minissale's mental illness Friday morning.