AUGUSTA, Maine — A Superior Court justice determined Monday that a Gardiner man accused of murdering and dismembering his father in April 2014 is not competent to stand trial.
After a forensic expert testified during a competency hearing Monday morning in Kennebec County Superior Court that Leroy Smith III likely suffers from some form of severe psychiatric disorder, Justice Donald Marden told attorneys in his chamber that he would find Smith not competent to stand trial.
Smith, 25, allegedly killed his father, 56-year-old Leroy Smith II, in April. He then allegedly dismembered the body and placed the remains in a wooded area along a dirt road in Richmond.
Smith has been in custody at Riverview Psychiatric Center in Augusta and Kennebec County Jail since his arrest.
Ann Leblanc, director of the State Forensic Services at the Maine Department of Health and Human Services, told Marden on Monday that after nearly a dozen interviews with Smith, she believes he suffers from schizophrenia, paranoid schizophrenia or a delusional disorder.
According to Leblanc, Smith believes the primary role of his attorneys is to put him in touch with heavy metal rock bands so he could tell them he is God.
“He went into great detail that since the Phish concert in 2011, he had been told he was the greatest guitarist ever and he described his efforts to contact them,” she said. “He felt they had brushed him off.”
In response to questions from Assistant Attorney General Deborah Cashman and Smith’s attorney, Pamela Ames, Leblanc said Smith has refused medication since his arrest because he doesn’t think he is mentally ill, but if he would take antipsychotic medication, “there’s a chance he would be able to be restored to competency.”
Marden refused a request by Smith to speak on his own behalf, but Smith interrupted him, telling the court his attorneys are not properly representing him.
“They are telling me that my story is delusional and grandiose,” he said, adding, “In 2011, I had a gun put against my head. I was sworn to keep secret what I am, and they refuse to investigate that.”
Smith was quiet after Marden threatened to have him removed from court.
“The justice said he didn’t want to [rule] from the bench because of Mr. Smith’s delusional state of mind,” Ames said later in the day. “He told us in chambers he would find him not competent to stand trial.”
Timothy Feeley, spokesman for the Maine attorney general’s office, confirmed Marden’s ruling.
“Justice Marden issued a written order this afternoon finding Mr. Smith incompetent at this time to stand trial,” Feeley said in an email. “It was placed in the mail, so we have not seen any other details.”
But Ames said Smith will be treated at Riverview for an initial 180 days, with staff reporting to the court on his competency after 30, 60 and 180 days. If staff at the state’s psychiatric hospital advise the court they think he has become competent, another competency hearing will be scheduled.
If Smith is not found competent or likely to become competent in the foreseeable future — within an additional 180 days — the murder charge may be dismissed, according to Ames.