Mother says son not on medications

Family members of Ben Gully said he was not taking medication to control his "severe mental illness" in the days prior to shooting and killing his father.

"He's not in touch with reality at all," said his mother, Mary Gully. "He needs to be medicated."

Gully's mother and stepmother would not elaborate on why Gully was not being medicated. Both women said they always feared that Gully might hurt himself but never imagined him harming others.

Gully made his first appearance in court Wednesday, just hours after Davis County prosecutors charged him with one count of first-degree murder for shooting and killing Jim Gully, 61, while they were hunting Saturday.

Dressed in a red prison jumpsuit with his hands shackled in front of his body, the 19-year-old smiled and calmly greeted 2nd District Judge Jon Memmott.

"Hi, your honor. How are you?" said Gully. "Good to see you."

Minutes later, the 19-year-old turned around, waved and flashed a wide smile at his family, who filled the second row of Memmott's courtroom. A bailiff had to tell Gully to turn back around and face the judge.

Gully's family said he suffers from severe mental illness and was not taking any medication to control his mental problems. "I think that's really indicative of how he doesn't understand the gravity of the situation," said his stepmother, Janice Perry Gully. "He doesn't really grasp what he's doing. When he's re-medicated, he's going to be devastated. Absolutely devastated."

Doctors have struggled to diagnose Gully's mental illness since his first hospitalization in December 2003. It was then that Gully first displayed signs of psychosis, Janice Perry Gully said.

During that first psychotic episode, the Brighton High School graduate let out a "blood-curdling scream" every three to five minutes, Janice Perry Gully said.

"We asked, 'Why are you doing that,' and he said, 'I have to keep the earth turning,' " Janice Perry Gully said. He was hospitalized for nine days at that time.

Gully suffered from what his stepmother called a "rolling diagnosis." "It's so hard to tell when somebody is psychotic if it's bipolar, schizophrenia or if it's a combination of the two," Janice Perry Gully said. Doctors were in the process of determining what mental illness Gully suffered from.