A Shasta County jury has decided that a 36-year-old Redding man who was convicted of murder was sane when he did it. In August 2024 Robert Parker Milton shot his neighbor, 71-year-old William Dressler, in the Wilshire Drive Neighborhood west of Bechelli. Then, as Dressler was pleading for someone to help him, Milton struck him in the head twice with a cinder block, killing him. After a psychological assessment the court sent Milton away for psychiatric treatment. He returned and pled not guilty by reason of insanity. During trial Milton’s defense argued that he was driven by psychosis and paranoid delusions and that he thought Dressler was a cyborg or doppelganger who had been sent to kill him and replace him. Last month a jury found Milton guilty of charges, including first degree murder with enhancements that the crime involved great violence and a high degree of cruelty, viciousness or callousness, and that Milton is a danger to society. The phase of the trial that ended Thursday afternoon was to determine whether he goes to a mental institution or state prison. Milton returns to court June 22nd for the setting of a judgement and sentencing date. He could be given a prison sentence of more than 50 years-to-life.
-Steve Gibson