TAVARES, Fla. (Court TV) — The line between insanity and religious delusion was argued at length in court on Friday as a Florida woman’s defense team urged a judge to find her incompetent.
Julie Sulpizio appears in court on June 26, 2026. (Court TV)
Julie Sulpizio, 50, is charged with murder of a law enforcement officer, attempted murder and battery after allegedly killing a deputy and injuring several others in a shootout at her Florida home.
On Aug. 2, 2024, a 911 call reported a woman trespassing on a neighbor’s lawn. During the call, the dispatcher listened as Sulpizio allegedly began assaulting the caller as well as members of the caller’s family — all while “acting religious, accusing them of being sinners,” police said at the time.
When officers arrived at the scene, Sulpizio calmly told the officers that her neighbors “were involved in pedophilia” before claiming she was “Helen” and that “Julie is in heaven.” She went on to say, “You see, the thing is, we needed to trick Lucy (later learned to be a name she calls Lucifer),” police wrote in an affidavit reviewed by Court TV. Things escalated quickly from there, as investigators say they had walked into a plot by Julie Sulpizio, her husband and their adult daughters to lure the neighbors into their home to kill them.
Julie Sulpizio repeatedly questioned the neighbors, “Who is your God?” while advancing on deputies over their instructions to stop. At one point, a deputy raised his Taser and gave a “warning alert,” which creates a tone and strobing light, as he pointed it at the defendant. “Julie Sulpizio states, ‘That’s God’s light,’ and approaches [the deputy] with her arms crossed on her chest, smiling,” according to the affidavit. She was taken into custody and removed from the scene.
Not knowing about the alleged plot, investigators were concerned about the welfare of Sulpizio’s husband and daughters and went to enter the family’s home. They noted two dead dogs that appeared to “have had their throats cut and/or were shot.” Fearing a home invasion, officers went into the house, where they were confronted by Julie Sulpizio’s husband, Michael, “positioned with a rifle on the arm of the couch, waiting to ambush deputies.” While three deputies escaped from the house, Master Deputy Bradley Michael Link was hit by gunfire. After hearing the word “suicide” followed by three gunshots, officers returned to the house where they saw Sulpizio’s husband, Michael Sulpizio, and their 22- and 23-year-old daughters dead from self-inflicted gunshot wounds.
Nearly two years after the incident, prosecutors have urged a judge to declare Sulpizio competent to proceed to trial after two inpatient stays at a mental hospital. Her defense maintains she is not competent and unable to assist in her own defense in any meaningful way.
Dr. Judy Harper, a licensed psychologist hired by the defense, testified that she believes the defendant has bipolar disorder, dissociative identity disorder and likely has schizoaffective disorder. “Across appointments, she presents with an alteration in personality, in which she expresses herself as if she is someone else,” Harper said. “So there are moments in time when she is expressing that she is Lucifer, as in the Devil, or her deceased husband, Michael, or archangels of various types.”
Harper said that across every interview she’s done with the defendant, Sulpizio has maintained that the incident was a result of “spirit possession. That her husband and daughters were possessed. That Lucifer was directing activities to occur on the day of the offense.”
A second psychologist hired by the defense, Dr. Yenys Castillo, agreed that Sulpizio remains incompetent. “She told me she heard the voice of her husband, Michael, saying everything will be taken care of in terms of the trial. She hears the voices of her deceased daughters,” Castillo said. “She pretty much believes that the events happened in this delusional way: she was possessed, and her daughter was possessed.”
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty in Sulpizio’s case. Castillo said when she tried to talk to the defendant about the possible penalties should she be convicted, Sulpizio said that she wanted the death penalty, “because that’s what Satan wants and because she has no choice.”
While Sulpizio’s defense argues that the delusions and hallucinations amount to insanity, the prosecution has argued that “religious delusions” do not meet the legal standard when declaring someone incompetent.
Judge Brian Welke asked both sides to submit a proposed order while he takes the issue under consideration; those orders are due July 17.
