The man charged with the murder of Kelli O’Laughlin is a life-long prisoner who, at a young age, was prescribed medication for mood disorder, according to court records. At age 38, John L. Wilson has spent more than half his life in jail. The time from his November 2010 parole to this week's charge of first-degree murder and residential burglary is the longest he has been out of prison since he was a teenager. Wilson has been diagnosed with “mood personality disorder” and depression, according to records. He was prescribed anxiety and depression medications, though he would later tell a judge he does not believe he needs them. He also was at one time prescribed a powerful antipsychotic drug that he refused to take. His personal and family history was laid out in Cook County Circuit Court records leading up to his most recent conviction in 2003. Wilson's father died when he was 4 years old, and his mother raised him. He told the court he was well-behaved and a good student through childhood, but he started getting in trouble around age 10. He joined a street gang when he was 11 or 12 years old, he said, and remained a member until he was 28. Although juvenile records are not public, he said he was charged with robbery at age 13 and remained in juvenile detention until he was 17. During that time his education reached the eighth grade, and though he “once attended” a GED program, he never took the exam. As an adult in the early ‘90s, Wilson was convicted of carjacking, possession of a stolen vehicle and two drug charges, and he was incarcerated from 1993 to 2002. He had been paroled for just one month before he was arrested again in August 2002 for unlawful vehicular invasion and robbery in West Rogers Park. According to the arrest report, he ran his bike into a car, started an argument with the driver and grabbed her by the throat. He then reached in and snatched her wallet with $63 in cash. The charge was upgraded to a Class X felony — the most serious category in Illinois short of first-degree murder — because of Wilson's previous criminal record, according to court records. Wilson pleaded guilty, but after sentencing he appealed to have his plea withdrawn. He argued that after his arrest, he had been placed on suicide watch without access to legal counsel, so he could not immediately withdraw his guilty plea before his conviction. The appeal was unsuccessful. He was sentenced to 11 years in prison in 2003, and he served eight before he was released on parole last year. A spokesman for Illinois’ Prisoner Review Board declined to discuss the details of Wilson’s parole conditions. Illinois Department of Corrections records indicate he was "compliant" with his parole.