The man accused of brutally murdering a recent Harvard graduate in broad daylight last November was found competent to stand trial by a Philadelphia Municipal Court judge Tuesday.

Judge Teresa Carr Deni ruled that Nader Ali, whom witnesses saw beat Lea F. Sullivan ’01 with a baseball bat after she emerged from a Philadelphia Whole Foods store, is fit to participate in a preliminary hearing set for March 16.

If prosecutors demonstrate at the hearing that there is sufficient evidence to pursue the charges, the trial’s outcome will depend on whether defense attorneys can convince a jury that Ali’s previously diagnosed mental conditions rendered him incapable of forming the specific intent to kill.

On Nov. 7, witnesses saw Ali emerge from his car wearing a ski mask and bludgeon Sullivan, his former classmate at Jefferson Medical College, for 15 seconds before fleeing the scene. Onlookers recorded the car’s license plate number, and he was arrested at his parents’ New Jersey residence the following morning. Police said they found the alleged murder weapon in his car.

Sullivan died at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital that afternoon.

Ali was placed on leave from medical school last spring due to “an extreme change in behavior,” according to a statement from Thomas Jefferson University. Reports following his arrest painted him as emotionally disturbed and increasingly unstable.

Ali’s lawyers told the Associated Press that his mental problems began after an injury last spring. His increasingly self-destructive behavior—banging his head against walls, for example—precipitated the school’s decision, they said.

In August, Ali was committed to a mental hospital and diagnosed with severe bipolar disorder, psychosis and schizophrenia, according to several newspaper reports. His father appeared on television, saying, “It is not a secret that he has bipolar” disorder.

Ali’s parents were not immediately available for comment.

Nino Tinari, one of Ali’s defense lawyers, said that these prior incidents will support a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity.

“Our defense is one of mental health,” he said. “At the time of this incident, he did not know the nature of his act.”

This does not mean that Tinari is seeking an acquittal for his client.

Under Pennsylvania law, there are two types of insanity defense. The first mandates a two-pronged test: the accused must not have understood the nature and quality of his actions, or the wrongfulness of his actions.

But Tinari said he is considering employing a formulation called “diminished capacity.” According to Caroline Roberto, former president of the Pennsylvania Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, if certain “cognitive dysfunctions”—bipolar disorder and depression with anxiety among them—prevented someone from forming the “specific intent to kill,” charges can be reduced from first to third degree murder.

Roberto expressed surprise that Ali’s lawyers had requested his transfer to a hospital—a move Tinari says will ensure that Ali takes his antipsychotic medications.