The attorney for Nicholas Fiebka, the Schenectady County man accused of fatally shooting his mother and her partner in 2022, argues his client had been suffering with mental illness for many years and was “spiraling out of control.”

Opening statements were held Thursday morning in Fiebka’s double murder trial. Fiebka is accused of killing Alesia Wadsworth, 60, and William Horwedel, 61, at their 1155 Reynolds Road home back in November 2022.

Fiebka is on trial in Schenectady County Court on two counts of first-degree murder, tampering with physical evidence and weapons charges.

His attorney, Mark Sacco, called it a “sad, sad case.”

“I will call witnesses (to prove) Nick is a young man who for years was suffering with mental illness. He suffered from delusions, believing things that weren’t true. All these things spinning in his head led to this terrible tragedy. His head was screwed up. He is a diagnosed schizophrenic. He was suffering paranoia and paranoia delusions,” Sacco said. 

Sacco asked the jury to find him not guilty by reasons of mental incapacity.

Wadsworth and Horwedel were finally able to get Fiebka out of the house. Then Fiebka planned the crime, according to Deputy Chief Assistant District Attorney Christina Tremante Pelham.

“He prepared to kill them. He intended to kill them. He wanted to kill them, and he is responsible,” she said.