Former pastor Dr. Terry Greer has been found not guilty of murder and attempted murder because of mental defect, a judge declared Wednesday.

Jefferson County Circuit Court Judge Tommy Nail handed down the verdict during a short trial, and subsequently committed Greer to the custody of the Alabama Department of Mental Health.

Wednesday’s proceedings were originally planned as a hearing to determine whether Greer was competent to stand trial, and whether he knew right from wrong when he shot and killed his wife and tried to kill his teenage daughter on Jan. 10, 2013.

Instead, the hearing became a bench trial when both prosecutors and Greer’s defense team decided to jointly stipulate the facts of the incident, and also agreed with the findings of clinical psychologist Dr. Glen David King.

In court testimony, King — the only witness called by either side in the case — said that Greer had suffered from a condition called cardiovascular dementia, brought about by heart disease that Greer had suffered from for as long as three years before the shootings. King added that Greer’s condition on that day was compounded by the effects of a car wreck and a 10-to-15-foot fall in the months 

from the deck in the back of the parsonage of Gardendale-Mt. Vernon United Methodist Church, where Greer was serving as senior pastor.

King testified that Greer’s daughter Suzanna had said in a statement that her father was “acting bizarre and strangely that day.”

Terry Greer had been admitted to Brookwood Hospital in December 2012, after the wreck and the fall, for symptoms of suicidal depression. However, he was released after an overnight stay.

In the stipulation document submitted in court before King’s testimony, Terry Greer had told his wife Lisa and his daughter, “What if we just all drive up to heaven today?”

The document gave details of the shooting, during which Terry Greer shot his wife in the head, neck and hand. She lived for about nine hours before dying at UAB Hospital from the head wound.

Suzanna was grazed by gunshots, but managed to barricade herself inside a bathroom. Her father then entered, but she was able to wrestle the gun away and escape. After that, Terry Greer tried to kill himself with a kitchen knife, sustaining wounds that punctured his lungs and required a month of hospitalization.

“I’ve performed more than 5,000 examinations like this, and I’ve never seen a case where someone stabbed themselves multiple times like this and survived,” King said.

Terry Greer had been taking medications for heart disease and high blood pressure, and King said those medications may have played a part in Greer’s mental state.

King, who works out of a practice in Montgomery and is also an attorney, testified that about six to seven percent of the defendants he has examined over 22 years have mental defects that prevent them from knowing right from wrong during a crime.

Defense attorneys did not cross-examine King, nor did they present a case of their own. In essence, the defense — which had originally requested the examinations of Greer — agreed with King’s opinions.

Deputy District Attorney Laura Poston said in her brief closing statement that King would have been the examiner they would have sought as well.

In the subsequent hearing, Nail determined through King’s testimony that Greer would pose a danger to himself and the community if he were released, and ordered him committed. Greer will likely be sent to the Taylor Hardin Secured Mental Facility in Tuscaloosa.

“It’s a sad day for the family and for the community, but I believe the right outcome has been reached,” defense co-counsel Mark Polson said afterward. “This family is destroyed, and the church community is saddened by the loss of Mrs. Greer’s life… Fortunately there was a lot of support there for the family.”