Stanley Fitzpatrick described a visit from the devil last June. The demon took a seat opposite the 34-year-old Lincoln Heights man and told him that he was as real as God.

        He dared Mr. Fitzpatrick to touch him.

        Mr. Fitzpatrick reached out and, as he later told a cousin, felt his soul “sucked out of his body.”

        Hours after that “visit,” the former Formica Corp. employee killed his girlfriend's 12-year-old daughter, and then his girlfriend. Two days later, he killed a 64-year-old neighbor.

        On Monday, a three-judge panel deliberated for almost three hours before finding Mr. Fitzpatrick guilty of the murders of Doreatha Hayes, her daughter Shenay and neighbor Elton “Arybie” Rose.

        Their bodies were discovered inside the Chicago Avenue house in Lincoln Heights that Mr. Fitzpatrick shared with the Hayeses.

        Hamilton County Common Pleas Judges Patrick Dinkelacker, Ann Marie Tracey and Dennis Helmick also convicted Mr. Fitzpatrick of two counts of aggravated robbery, a count of aggravated burglary and a count of attempted murder for shooting at a Lincoln Heights police sergeant.

        Prosecutors and defense attorneys argued for about two hours Monday whether the nature of Mr. Fitzpatrick's crimes warrant the death penalty. That court proceeding will continue today.

        Dr. Emmett Cooper, a psychiatrist who examined Mr. Fitzpatrick for the defense, told judges that the defendant's chronic drug abuse triggered a psychotic break with reality.

        “He was intoxicated with cocaine and other substances, and moved in and out of ... reality,” Dr. Cooper testified Monday.

        Mr. Fitzpatrick had ingested crack, marijuana, Valium and alcohol, and had little sleep, Dr. Cooper said.

        He was experiencing auditory and visual hallucinations that eventually increased his paranoia and inhibited his grasp on reality, he said.

        Prosecutors countered that Mr. Fitzpatrick never blamed the murders on the devil. Rather, he told his cousin that he killed Shenay because the girl caught him smoking crack.

        He added that he killed Ms. Hayes because they got into an argument, and killed Mr. Rose because he was nosy.

        During a lengthy procedural hearing Friday, Mr. Fitzpatrick entered guilty pleas to the seven charges he faced.

        Earlier in the week, he balked at the start of his jury trial and demanded that the proceedings be stopped. He admitted to the killings and said he wanted to plead guilty.

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