AUGUSTA, Maine — A Gardiner man charged with the gruesome murder of his father at their apartment in May is scheduled to appear in Kennebec County Superior Court on Jan. 5 to allow Justice Donald Marden to determine whether he is competent to stand trial.
Leroy Smith III, 25, was charged in May with killing his father, 56-year-old Leroy Smith II, at the Gardiner apartment the two shared. He allegedly told police he used three knives to murder and dismember his father, then put the remains in trash bags.
Police recovered his father’s remains, which were placed in nine trash bags, in a wooded area off Lincoln Street in Richmond, about 8 miles from the apartment on Cannard Street in Gardiner.
During the days following the murder, police, fire marshals and bomb-sniffing dogs searched wooded areas of Richmond and Gardiner for 25 to 45 “improvised primitive-type pyrotechnics” Smith allegedly told police he placed in those communities. The search eventually was canceled without reports of any explosives being found.
During a court appearance in May, Smith told Marden he understood the charge he faces — “intentional or knowing or depraved indifference murder” — which carries a sentence of 25 years to life in prison. Marden ordered Smith to undergo a psychological evaluation.
When leaving the courtroom that day, Smith claimed he was a political prisoner and urged people to read his writings about conspiracy theories, government and other topics on social media. During an interview with CBS 13 reporter Jon Chrisos, Smith subsequently claimed he was God and allegedly admitted to killing his father.
With the exception of about a month at Riverview Psychiatric Center in Augusta, where he underwent psychological testing, Smith has been held at the Kennebec County Jail since May, his attorney, Pam Ames, said Friday.
An initial evaluation determined Smith was not competent to stand trial.