MIDDLETOWN – A Connecticut man who was found not guilty by reason of insanity of murdering a victim with a hatchet and eating body parts has been granted conditional release from the state’s only maximum-security psychiatric hospital, despite concerns raised by the victim’s family and state legislators.
Tyree Smith was sentenced to 60 years in Whiting Forensic Hospital in 2013 for the murder of Angel Gonzalez. Gonzalez’s mutilated body was discovered in a vacant apartment in Bridgeport in January 2012, a month after he was hacked to death. Smith’s cousin testified that Smith told her he ate a portion of Gonzalez’s brain and an eyeball while drinking sake.
On Friday, the state’s Psychiatric Security Review Board granted Smith conditional release from the hospital after hearing from a psychiatrist who stated that Smith’s schizophrenia, as well as alcohol and drug disorders, were in complete remission as a result of medication and other treatments.
A conditional release means Smith will be placed in the community but under strict supervision, including ongoing treatment. Smith had already been staying full-time at a community facility with round-the-clock supervision for the past nine months, and Friday’s decision formally discharged him from the hospital, according to officials.
During a hearing before the board, Gonzalez’s sister-in-law, Talitha Frazier, expressed concern that Smith was now concealing his mental illness.
“How do we really know he is not going to do this again?” she was wondering.
In a statement issued Friday afternoon, state Senators Heather Somers, Paul Cicarella, Henri Martin, and Stephen Harding described the decision as “outrageous” and “mind-boggling”.
“This terrible decision jeopardises public safety and sends yet another terrible message to Connecticut’s violent crime victims and families. “This person should never be released,” the Republican lawmakers declared.
Smith attended the hearing virtually with his lawyer, but was not shown on video screens due to safety concerns raised by media coverage, his lawyer stated.
