Sentencing delayed while mental health treatment considered for Dyer woman

The sentencing for a Dyer woman accused of trying to cut off her father’s penis with scissors during a 2019 bipolar episode was delayed Friday.

A Lake County judge gave her defense attorney more time to contact Regional Mental Health Center to see if a proposed plan to send her there was actually feasible.

Darlene G. Wozniak, 56, was charged Dec. 14, 2018, in the incident. Her sentencing was rescheduled for Oct. 15.

No family was present in court Friday. Her father, Carl Wozniak Sr., later died of unrelated causes on Dec. 29, 2018, according to lawyers and his obituary.

In 20 years, Darlene Wozniak’s case was one of the most difficult to balance due to her compromised mental state, but the “egregious nature” of the crime, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Reginald Marcus said.

The state asked for the maximum sentencing — 5 or 6 years — under a plea agreement Wozinak signed July 2.

“She has earned a prison sentence,” Marcus said.

Do we know why she did it, Judge Samuel Cappas asked.

Wozniak was “totally overmedicated,” her defense lawyer, Herb Shaps, responded.

Shaps noted since her incarceration and with good time credit, she had 1,347 days to count against any sentence, with only about 10 months left to serve even under the maximum.

Their preference was for her to be sent to the Evansville State Hospital for care, but the court could only order it if she was found mentally incompetent to assist with her defense, he noted.

He filed for a mental health competency evaluation in 2019. Two doctors concluded Wozniak was competent in November 2019, according to court records.

However, the report by Clinical Psychologist Gary Durak said Wozniak has a “serious mental illness,” according to court records.

Her plea agreement notes she has been on Social Security since age 35 for physical and a mental bipolar disorder. Wozniak was prescribed Depakote for a bipolar depression and mood disorder diagnosis, documents state.

“She needs help,” Shaps said at Friday’s hearing. “Beyond anything she would ever get in the Department of Correction.”

Shaps asked her not to get the maximum sentence, since under law it was reserved for the worst offenders.

“You can forget that, Mr. Shaps,” Cappas said. “I’m not going to give her six years.”

What about Community Corrections (Lake County Jail) and have her receive mental health treatment there, the judge asked.

“I’m not sure they would accept her,” Shaps replied.

Shaps proposed having the court order her on probation, but sent to Regional.

“I don’t understand the logistics,” the judge responded, noting there were questions on how she would pay or if there was insurance.

Regional said they could take her, Shaps said.

Cappas ordered the hearing continued, so Shaps could contact Regional to iron out details like how she would be accepted and how a proposed legal order would need to look.

“I don’t want there to be room for error in the order,” he told Shaps.

The court had a vested interest in helping Wozniak get the right mental health treatment, Cappas told her.

“I feel like I’m on the proper medication,” Wozniak said, when allowed to address the court. “I realize I have problems. I am begging to send me to Regional, so I can work, be productive to society.”

Why did you attack your father, Cappas asked.

Wozniak appeared to give several reasons for what triggered her — she had gotten robbed multiple times around that period. Someone in the family near Christmas mentioned a son who died premature.

“I just kind of freaked out,” she said.

Dyer Police were called Dec. 13, 2018 to the 800 block of Harrison Avenue for a reported stabbing, charging documents state. The father and his wife were both lying on hospital beds, while he was screaming in pain.

Wozniak’s brother told police she had nearly severed her father’s penis with a pair of scissors, the affidavit said.

Her father told police she lunged at him, punching him several times, then took scissors and tried to cut off his penis, charges state. He was later transported to Chicago for treatment.

Wozniak agreed to plead “guilty, but mentally ill” to domestic battery resulting in serious bodily injury, a level 5 felony. It calls for a sentence from 1-6 years to be argued in court.