Robbin Trowbridge Benko attends a hearing about her son's killer, Michael Kane, in District Court on Monday. Photo by Clint Karlsen. Michael Kane Killer has been being treated at Lake's Crossing Center

A Nevada killer who faces a possible release from custody next week is still mentally ill and should not be set free, officials said in court Monday.

Psychologist John Paglini said Michael Kane, found not guilty by reason of insanity last year in the 2001 stabbing death of John Trowbridge, has not been in custody long enough to determine whether he is no longer a danger to society.

"I feel Mr. Kane is mentally ill," Paglini said. "He's doing much better, but I still have major concerns."

Clark County Prosecutor Ed Kane urged a judge Monday to make sure the defendant isn't set free.

"He's dangerous," said the prosecutor, who is not related to Michael Kane.

District Judge Jennifer Togliatti is expected to decide the issue next week. Togliatti could order Michael Kane's release, or she could choose to have him held for another six months pending further mental health examinations.

Trowbridge's mother, Robbin Trowbridge Benko, said she has no doubt others will be victimized if Kane is freed.

"If he's released, he'll be back ... he will possibly kill again, God forbid," Trowbridge Benko said.

Kane has been receiving treatment at Lakes Crossing Center, a state-run facility in Northern Nevada.

Evidence indicated he was under the influence of LSD and had also used methamphetamine in the weeks prior to the slaying. Authorities said he plunged a dagger into the 23-year-old victim's chest as he and friends played the violent video game, "Bloody Roar III."

The jury's September 2004 decision meant Kane could not discern right from wrong at the time of the slaying.

Kane arrived at Lakes Crossing on Oct. 20, 2004. A week later, records show, he attacked a mentally retarded client without provocation.

The center's director, Psychologist Elizabeth Neighbors, told Togliatti in August that Kane suffered from drug-induced psychosis because of methamphetamine use but no longer showed symptoms of the mental illness.

Under Nevada law, a person found not guilty by reason of insanity can only be held until they are no longer determined to be a "mentally ill person." Essentially, this means that if they are no longer a danger to themselves or others, then they must be released.

But prosecutors, in opposing Kane's release, point to the fact that the Lakes Crossing diagnosis contradicts the diagnosis of Paglini and at least two other mental health experts.

Paglini said in court Monday that Kane is a paranoid schizophrenic, and Paglini, who was hired by the state to examine Kane, said the defendant long ago demonstrated symptoms of mental illness while in custody.

In one instance, months after his arrest, he chewed the flesh off his shoulders while in four-point restraints. In another instance, Kane was convinced he was part of a government experiment when he was transported by plane to Lakes Crossing.

"What we know about psychosis is it can wax and wane," Paglini said of Kane's reported progress in treatment.

But defense attorney Scott Coffee of the Clark County Public Defender's Office said the law is clear, if Kane is not deemed a danger to himself or others, than he has to be released.

"If he's not mentally ill, game over," Coffee said.

Trowbridge Benko said the case has put her on a mission to change the state's law regarding not guilty by reason of insanity verdicts.

The possibility of Kane's release without any supervision shows the law needs to be re-examined, Trowbridge Benko said.

"He didn't come up and just stab my son with a knife, as bad as that is," Trowbridge Benko said. "He stabbed my son in the neck, and then when my son tried to get away, he jumped on his back and he stabbed him six more times with a Roman dagger, then fled the scene.

"This is someone who needs to be behind either a padded door or bars, and I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure that happens," she said.