The Luke Wenke Files

In this post-hearing brief, Luke Wenke’s defence attorneys urge the court NOT to forcibly hospitalize Luke Wenke for mental health treatment. In doing so, they challenge the findings of forensic psychologist Dr. Corey Leidenfrost, who performed two court-ordered mental evaluations on Luke Wenke over a roughly year-long period. The defence argues that Dr. Leidenfrost erred in diagnosing Wenke with schizoaffective disorder and classifying him as delusional.

According to Wenke’s attorneys, Dr. Leidenfrost did not spend enough time analysing Luke Wenke to accurately determine whether he’s truly delusional. Additionally, the defence accuses Dr. Leidenfrost of failing to account for Wenke’s alleged delusional belief in psychics from a cultural and family perspective. Describing Dr. Leidenfrost’s findings as “egregious,” Wenke’s public defenders accuse Leidenfrost of basing his diagnosis on “misinformation.”

2nd Opinion: Luke Wenke is NOT delusional

In addition to the evaluations performed by Dr. Leidenfrost, Luke Wenke spent upwards of 45 days undergoing observation and interviews as part of an evaluation at the MCC Chicago federal detention facility. During that time, he was analysed by forensic psychologists Dr. Robin Watson and Dr. Kaitlyn Nelson, who concluded that Wenke is NOT delusional, even if he may hold extreme beliefs.

More specifically, the doctors argue that Luke Wenke isn’t delusional because his purported delusions are grounded in reality. For example, Wenke believes I wrote a negative Yelp review about his mother’s restaurant because his mother told him that she received a negative review and suspected me of writing it. In other words, the belief wasn’t borne exclusively in Wenke’s mind and nowhere else.

Spoiler alert: I know which review Wenke and his mother are likely referencing and I didn’t write it. I learned about it after it was written, I know who wrote it, and I’ll never throw that person under the bus because they are a legitimate victim of Luke Wenke.

While writing a fake business review falls wildly out-of-line with my go-to strategy of refusing to directly acknowledge Wenke and his mother, I believe that the author likely wrote it out of frustration after other efforts to make the stalking and harassment stop failed.

USA v. Luke Wenke: Memorandum
April 18^th, 2025

CASE #1:22-cr-00035, DOCKET ENTRY #192