NEW ORLEANS -- A man accused in the Thanksgiving Day bludgeoning deaths of his mother, step-father and half-sister was ordered Tuesday to return to Mississippi to face capital murder charges.
Orleans Parish Criminal District Judge Rudolph Becker III ordered James E. Billiot extradited to Hancock County, Miss., where he is wanted in the sledgehammer slayings.
On Monday, the extradition hearing was halted because a state Supreme Court justice issued a stay to allow the court to consider defense claims the suspect was convinced he was possessed by demons.
'His mind,' Billiot's lawyers said, 'appears to be so cluttered with demons their conversations demand his full attention.'
However, later in the day the state Supreme Court lifted the stay and cleared the way for the proceedings.
Billiot, 20, is charged in Mississippi with three counts of capital murder in the Thanksgiving Day slayings.
Billiot was charged in the deaths of Wallace Croll Jr., 53, Audrey Croll, 47, and Cheryl Ann Croll, 14. The three were beaten to death in their home Thanksgiving Day with a six-pound sledgehammer.
Billiot was arrested in New Orleans two days later.
