AUGUSTA, Maine — The attorney for a Gardiner man charged with killing and dismembering his father in April 2014 said her client has been diagnosed with delusional disorder. She will argue Wednesday morning in Augusta Superior Court against a motion to force him to take antipsychotic medication to see whether he can become competent to stand trial.
Leroy Smith III, 26, is charged with killing 56-year-old Leroy Smith II at their Gardiner apartment in April 2014. He then allegedly dismembered the body and placed the remains in a wooded area along a dirt road in Richmond.
In January, Justice Donald Marden found Smith not competent to stand trial after a forensic expert testified that Smith likely suffers from schizophrenia, paranoid schizophrenia or a delusional disorder. His attorney, Pam Ames, said Tuesday he has been diagnosed with a delusional disorder, which she said is less likely to respond to the antipsychotic drugs requested by the state.
Ann Leblanc, director of the State Forensic Services at the Maine Department of Health and Human Services, told Marden in January that 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.
Assistant Attorney General Deborah Cashman filed a motion under a new state law seeking authorization to force Smith to take antipsychotic drugs in an effort to determine whether he would be competent to stand trial if medicated for his condition.
Ames said Tuesday that in addition to “significant protection” offered by the U.S. Constitution against the administration of unwanted antipsychotic drugs and a 2003 Supreme Court decision confirming those protections, the drug’s side effects could also interfere with his ability to assist his attorney with his defense.
“The statute is very focused,” Ames said. “The drugs aren’t supposed to cure him or make him feel better or be helpful to his mental health. The state has to prove that whatever medication they want to give him, there is a substantial likelihood that it will make him competent but also won’t interfere with his ability to assist counsel in conducting a trial defense. If they dope him up so completely so that he can’t think at all and he’s just a zombie, it may help his delusions but it’s not going to help his defense team in preparing him for trial.”
Ames said she was told Smith voluntarily took the antipsychotic Seroquel at Riverview Psychiatric Center after he was arrested in April 2014 but chose to stop taking it because of side effects.
He was then given Seroquel following a Nov. 12 “psychiatric emergency” at Riverview, according to Ames, who said she has not been able to determine whether Smith remains medicated.
If Smith is found not competent to stand trial, he will return to Riverview. If a judge determines he is not likely to become competent for a year, the murder charge would be dismissed and Smith would be civilly committed to Riverview in custody of the commissioner of the Maine Department of Health and Human Services, and could only be released by successfully petitioning the commissioner to release him.
Watch bangordailynews.com for updates.