The headline-rattling ax murder of late-night radio host Mike Webb last April, followed by the arrest and apparent confession of Scott White, has disappeared into an eerie silence—appropriately, perhaps. It turns out the case might conclude without a trial, as White’s attorney prepares to convince prosecutors the alleged killer is insane, which could lead to confinement at Western State Hospital under a potential plea deal.

The 28-year-old White, a homeless man who sometimes shared a bed with the ex-KIRO-710 host, allegedly confessed to police that he had hidden an ax under his side of the mattress and, in the early hours of April 14, 2007, repeatedly bludgeoned the slumbering Webb, 51, in the face and skull. He then dragged the body down the stairs of Webb’s Queen Anne home and hid it in the basement.

A doctor who examined White in jail concluded that he is mentally ill, and found that he had repeatedly cut himself in the past. White’s attorney, Julie Lawry, describes “numerous serious and self-inflicted cut marks,” and has obtained a court order to allow the photographing of the wounds as part of her presentation of a “mitigation package” to prosecutors “for the purpose of resolving the case outside of trial,” she says in a court affidavit.

Befitting the strangeness of the case, two weeks ago Lawry had to return to court to seek a second order which would allow jailers to remove White’s restraints so he could shed his clothing for the photos (under a new jail policy, some prisoners remain in restraints even during attorney interviews). “Many of the injuries are on Mr. White’s upper thighs and back and would require him to drop his pants and remove or lift his shirt,” says Lawry. The order was granted.