Windsor Locks man acquitted as insane in mother's fatal stabbing

Alex Wood, Journal Inquirer, Manchester, Conn.
·4 min read

Sep. 13—After a trial essentially devoid of controversy, a panel of three Hartford Superior Court judges on Monday unanimously found Kevin Thomas Landry not guilty by reason of "mental disease or defect" of murdering his mother, Barbara Landry.

INSANITY FINDING

DEFENDANT: Kevin Thomas Landry, now 31, who lived with his parents on John Street in Windsor Locks when he admitted fatally stabbing his mother, Barbara Landry, on Aug. 31, 2020

VERDICT: Three-judge panel unanimously found him not guilty of murder on grounds of "mental disease or defect," commonly called insanity.

WHAT'S NEXT?: Another 60-day evaluation at the Whiting Forensic Division of Connecticut Valley Hospital in Middletown, followed by a Nov. 21 hearing on how long Landry should be committed to the legal custody of the state Psychiatric Security Review Board

Landry's public defenders, Rashad Glass and Claud E. Chong, didn't dispute prosecution evidence that Landry, now 31, intended to kill his 60-year-old mother when he stabbed her repeatedly in their home on John Street in Windsor Locks on Aug. 31, 2020. That would ordinarily be enough for a murder conviction.

But prosecutors Anthony Bochicchio and Danielle M. O'Connell also didn't dispute the testimony of Dr. Peter T. Morgan, the defense psychiatrist, that Landry committed the killing at a time when he couldn't appreciate the wrongfulness of his actions or control his conduct as required by law. Those are the criteria set by Connecticut law for the mental disease or defect defense, still commonly called insanity.

Morgan conceded that Landry "was using cannabis with some regularity" around the time he killed his mother. That was a potential issue because Connecticut law doesn't permit the mental defense if the problem was caused by voluntary use of illicit drugs.

But Morgan expressed the opinion that Landry's violent behavior stemmed from schizophrenia rather than abuse of cannabis, which he said can induce psychotic symptoms only in high doses or if used intravenously.

Senior Judge Frank M. D'Addabbo Jr. said in announcing the decision of the panel, which also included Judges Carl J. Schuman and Kevin C. Doyle, that they unanimously believed Morgan's conclusions, including that Landry's psychosis wasn't caused by substance abuse.

Landry, who graduated with honors from the University of Connecticut and went on to work on Wall Street and to attend graduate school in mathematics at the University of California at Los Angeles, had been involuntarily committed to Charlotte Hungerford Hospital in Torrington in late 2019.

He was diagnosed at that time with a condition identical to schizophrenia except that it doesn't require the six months of symptoms needed for a schizophrenia diagnosis, Morgan testified.

Symptoms of schizophrenia include "delusions," or false beliefs, and hallucinations, which can be auditory or visual, Morgan testified.

He said Landry had "very strong delusions" about having been sexually abused by his mother over a long period, including close to the time of the killing. Landry felt he was justified in killing her as a result, the psychiatrist testified.

Morgan said Landry's father had indicated that none of his son's allegations against his mother were correct.

Glass said another of Landry's delusions was that his mother had walked naked in public, a claim he said was supported by no other witness.

Windsor Locks police learned of the stabbing when Landry called 911 and said he had "just murdered" his mother for raping him.

O'Connell asked Morgan about the possibility that the call showed that Landry appreciated that what he had done was wrong. Morgan replied that Landry believed what he had done was justified even though he "knew at some level" that he should call the police.

The judges committed Landry to the Whiting Forensic Division of Connecticut Valley Hospital in Middletown for 60 days of further psychiatric evaluation.

They set a hearing Nov. 21 on how long he should be committed to the legal custody of the state Psychiatric Security Review Board, which could be up to 60 years. The board oversees treatment of patients who have been acquitted of crimes in mental grounds, with the goal of safely returning them to the community.

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