AUGUSTA -- A defense attorney said Monday that his client, John A. Okie, 22, killed both a 19-year-old woman from Wayne and his own father during a six-day period in July 2007.

However, Okie's lawyer, Peter DeTroy told jurors in Kennebec County Superior Court that Okie was suffering from severe mental illness, a schizophrenia marked by paranoia and delusions.

Okie is on trial on charges of murdering Alexandra "Aleigh" Mills, 19, in her Wayne home by bludgeoning her repeatedly with a heavy wooden piece of banister rail that resembled a 2-by-4, then stabbing her and slicing her throat with a knife he found in her kitchen.

Okie and Mills had been friends when they attended Kents Hill School together and occasional sexual partners, attorneys on both sides said. She was found dead July 10, 2007.

John S. Okie, 59, was killed July 16, 2007, in the family's Newcastle home, the result of "a rip-roaring argument" between the son and the father, according to a prosecutor, Assistant Attorney General Andrew Benson.

The state medical examiner said John S. Okie was stabbed to death, and police found the younger Okie's bloodied clothing and a knife in a bag on the dining room table.

Okie has entered pleas of not guilty and not guilty by reason of mental defect or disease.

DeTroy, in his opening remarks, offered jurors an account of Okie's medical history beginning in January 2004.

He cited instances in which Okie's behavior puzzled his friends and, family, including a time he called the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office to report that his mother was raping him and injecting heroin into the bottoms of his feet, and a time when Okie barricaded himself in a women's rest room in Concord, Mass., and had to be removed by police.

He said Okie was treated at local hospitals and by a psychiatrist in Boston.

"Johnny Okie is a very, very sick young man, and he was very sick when he killed Aleigh Mills and his father," DeTroy said.

DeTroy called both Mills and the senior Okie "innocent victims," saying, "I, along with my client, grieve for all those victims of this terrible tragedy."

Monday morning in court, Timothy Mills, father of Alexandra Mills, described how his daughter spent the day before her death helping teach children basketball at a local recreational center and attending an evening class at the University of Maine at Augusta. He talked too of finding her cold, half-clad body about 8 a.m. on the floor of their home, with a length of banister on the floor next to her, and of calling for help.

Deputy State Medical Examiner Dr. Marguerite DeWitt testified that Mills died of blunt force trauma to the head and sharp force trauma to the neck. She described numerous injuries and said either set of injuries could have killed the young woman.

Photos and a short video, all taken by police detectives at the Mills home the morning of the homicide, showed a scene with sunlight playing on the floor of a room outfitted with red-cushioned couches, blue chairs and a television set.

Mills' body lay on a rug at the bottom of the stairs. A wooden post was at her right side, and Maine State Police Detective Scott Bryant used a laser pointer to show where the knife was found under Mills' armpit.

The post, encased in a large, clear plastic bag, and the knife, encased in a plastic-wrapped box, were introduced as evidence by the prosecutors.

Donna Mills, Alexandra Mills' mother, said she asked her daughter repeatedly whether Okie was her boyfriend, and her daughter said they were friends.

Alexandra Mills and two of Okie's friends went to Puerto Rico with the Okie family on a school break in 2006. Donna Mills said her daughter told her that Okie had had a mental breakdown. The mother said Okie mistakenly believed Alexandra MIlls was eight months pregnant, and he had to be restrained by his father.

Two classmates of Okie and Mills testified that the pair had ended their relationship during their senior year.

Joseph Davids, who attends college in Albany, N.Y., said Mills befriended him his first night at Kents Hill, shortly after he arrived from his home in England.

"She was like a sister to me," he said.

He said he saw Okie use marijuana and drink alcohol at some parties, but he rarely saw Okie and Mills together.

Marie-Jacqueline Gershman-Mannocchi said initially Mills was in love with Okie, but he was not in love with her.

Gershman-Mannocchi said she called Okie to tell him about Mills' death. She testified that he responded, "Oh, really? That sucks."

The trial before Justice Joseph Jabar continues today at 8:30 a.m., and the state is expected to continue presenting its case.

The judge has said the trial might last up to two weeks.

Betty Adams -- 621-5631

badams@centralmaine.com