The state won't release a mental health patient who killed his sister 23 years ago to a Madison group home, a Madison City Council member said Thursday.

The news left the Near East Side neighborhood both frustrated with the state system and relieved.

On Tuesday, a Rock County judge ordered that Mark Staskal, 44, of Milton, be released to Brighter Life Living adult family home, 924 E. Mifflin St., about 150 yards from Lapham Elementary School.

Staskal was found not guilty due to mental disease or defect in the 1984 stabbing of his sister. He has been housed at Mendota Mental Health Institute ever since, except for a brief stay at an Eau Claire group home last November.

The planned release to the Madison facility was based on expert testimony and court approval of a detailed conditional release plan.

But neighborhood residents and parents voiced concern about the release and demanded a community meeting.

Ald. Brenda Konkel, 2nd District, who represents the area, said she talked to the service provider on Thursday morning and was told he was pulling out of the process.

Konkel said she confirmed the information with a state Department of Health and Family Services official.

Konkel said the provider, Jason Standish, told her there was too much misinformation in the public and he couldn't address it due to patient confidentiality laws.

"As a result, he felt it was something he felt he shouldn't take on," she said.

The State Journal was unable to reach Standish on Thursday for comment.

Health and Family Services spokeswoman Stephanie Marquis said she couldn't comment due to patient confidentiality.

Konkel said she believed the Rock County judge would be informed of the decision soon. Rock County Assistant District Attorney Raymond Jablonski, who opposed the release, said he had not yet received notice from the state.

Staskal's parents, Redgie and Melly, who also opposed the release, could not be reached.

While declining to speak about Staskal's case, Marquis said that when a placement falls through, the court would normally order Health and Family Services to create a new conditional release plan and find an alternative location. The court would review and approve any new plan, she said.

The recent process has been difficult, Konkel said.

"It's been very frustrating having access to confidential information that can't be shared with the community," she said. "I'm concerned with some of the misinformation that's been made public. The community, the group home and the client have been done a disservice.

"I also understand why we have these state laws in place — to protect the patient," she said. "I don't know what I'd recommend we change."

Mike Hertting, principal of Lapham Elementary School, who raised concern about the release in court, said, "My job is to be concerned about the safety of our children. I hope that the latest decision works out for the positive for everyone, including Mr. Staskal."

Tenney-Lapham Neighborhood Association President Patrick McDonnell said he was relieved by the decision but also had questions about the system.

Comments by the Rock County district attorney's office and Staskal's parents raised anxiety, he said. But residents were also "shocked" by televised court testimony by Health and Family Services that showed a lack of information about the expertise and staffing at the adult family home, McDonnell said.

"We are a neighborhood that has a tradition of being welcoming and open to all kinds of diversity," he said. "Clearly, our part of the city has a high density of social services. I think that's to our credit as a neighborhood. (But) it's still important for placements to be appropriately done and safe."