Pastor who killed wife to leave mental hospital

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — A former Alabama pastor who killed his wife but was found not guilty by reason of insanity is being released from a state mental hospital into a group home.

The Decatur Daily reported Wednesday that a judge ruled Terry Lee Greer, 59, was no longer a threat to himself or others.

Prosecutors objected, but the judge imposed rules to keep the one-time United Methodist pastor from contacting a daughter who survived the attack or his former churches in Gardendale and Decatur.

Greer was charged in the 2013 shooting death of Lisa Greer. She was killed in the parsonage of a Methodist church where Greer was working in Gardendale. Their daughter was wounded.

Evidence showed Greer had brain injuries that contributed to his actions. The judge ruled that a change in circumstances and medicine have helped Greer.

In his order, Circuit Judge Michael Streety wrote that Greer testified during a hearing last month that he didn’t remember most of what happened the night of the slaying but took full responsibility for his actions.

“He indicated that the problematic circumstances that he was dealing with at the time, relating to his church, emotional stress, and the medication he was taking, were contributing factors to what occurred,” the judge wrote. “He stated those factors are no longer a part of his life and he would not allow himself to be in a similar situation.”

Greer was represented by attorney Henry Lagman, who said he and his wife were longtime friends of the Greer family.

“We were brokenhearted at Lisa’s death and brokenhearted it was at the hands of Terry,” Lagman said. “He is a man of grace who is in need of grace.”

The judge’s order said Greer would be released from Bryce Hospital in Tuscaloosa to a group home in Wetumpka, north of Montgomery.