A Central Oregon Community College student who stabbed his roommate did so because voices in his head told him he would be transported to “another dimension” where all of his problems would go away, his attorney said Tuesday in Deschutes County Circuit Court.

Eric Norgaard, 24, faces charges of attempted murder, first-degree assault and unlawful use of a weapon in connection with the incident on Nov. 1, 2014, when he stabbed roommate Jim Briles 14 times in the COCC dorm room they shared.

Norgaard’s trial began Tuesday with opening statements from the prosecution and the defense.

Deschutes County Deputy District Attorney Brandi Shroyer told jurors that Briles and Norgaard shared an uneasy relationship in the short time they lived together. Briles, then an 18-year-old freshman at COCC, was uncomfortable with his older roommate’s drinking, she said, and felt Norgaard turned into a different person when intoxicated.

On the night of the attack, Briles asked Norgaard to get rid of the beer he’d brought back to their room, Shroyer said, then left for a few hours. Later that evening, Briles returned to their room.

With his back turned to Norgaard, Briles heard his roommate come up behind him, Shroyer said, and say “I’m sorry” before he began stabbing him.

Briles suffered two collapsed lungs as a result of the attack and was hospitalized for six days, Shroyer said.

In interviews with police, Norgaard said he stabbed Briles because he was “weak” and “slow in the head,” Shroyer said. She said jurors will hear from three doctors, as the trial continues, who will describe how Norgaard was aware that his conduct was criminal.

Norgaard’s attorney, Todd Grover of Bend, said there was no question Norgaard stabbed Briles. The question for jurors, Grover said, was whether Norgaard understood the implications of doing so.

Grover described a tumultuous period that began when Norgaard dropped out of the University of Alaska-Anchorage midway through his sophomore year. He’d been drinking too much, Grover said, and his grades had begun to suffer.

In June 2013, Norgaard re-enrolled at the university, and around the same time he began hearing voices, Grover said. The voices were those of two former neighbors from near his home in Eagle River, Alaska, Grover said, and Norgaard believed they were with the CIA or the military. The voices instructed Norgaard to kill himself, and told him he would be granted access to an alternative reality and be exposed to advanced military technology if he did so.

Alarmed by the voices in his head, Norgaard met with doctors at the nearby U.S. Air Force base where his father was stationed. Shortly thereafter he was committed to a psychiatric facility, Grover said, and was for the first time prescribed medication for a mental disorder. Five days after being released from the psychiatric hospital, Norgaard attempted suicide, slitting both wrists at his father’s home. He was sent back to the Alaska Psychiatric Institute, Grover said, where he was held for two weeks.

Later that summer, Norgaard’s parents decided he would have access to better psychiatric care in Central Oregon, and Norgaard moved to Bend to live with his mother. His condition seemed to improve during the latter part of the year, and he enrolled in COCC for the winter term.

On Valentine’s Day 2014, he attempted suicide again, and was committed to the Sageview psychiatric facility in Bend for about a week. Two weeks after he was released from Sageview, Norgaard attempted suicide a third time.

Norgaard’s condition again seemed to stabilize, Grover said, and by mid-2014, he was looking to return to COCC. He wanted to live in the dorms, and although his parents had reservations about his living in such an arrangement, they conceded to his wishes to preserve their relationship.

Grover said Norgaard was still under the delusion that he would be transported to the place described by the voices in his head when he called police to report the stabbing. As police began arriving at his dorm, Norgaard asked if they were with the military, he said, inquiring as to their military rank.

A civil suit brought by Briles’ family against COCC was settled earlier this year for $667,000.

Norgaard’s trial is expected to continue through Friday.

— Reporter: 541-383-0387, shammers@bendbulletin.com