A Freeport man who was accused of stabbing an 82-year-old man to death in 2019 has been found not criminally responsible due to insanity, the Lewiston Sun Journal reported.
Quinton Hanna, then 22 years old, allegedly attacked James Pearson outside his home on Beech Ridge Road in Scarborough on Dec. 15, 2019.
Pearson suffered from multiple stab wounds, and was pronounced dead after he was taken to Maine Medical Center in Portland.
Neither Pearson nor Hanna knew one another, former Maine State Police Lt. Mark Holmquist said at the time.
Hanna was suspected in at least two other violent attacks in the midcoast over the weekend of Dec. 15 of 2019.
Hanna was also accused of sexually assualting a West Bath woman on Birch Point Road on the same day, Holmquist said. The woman got away and began to run down the road, and Hanna drove into her with a silver 2013 Subaru Outback, according to police.
Hanna was also suspected in another attack on Dec. 14 of 2019 in Freeport, where a homeowner was stabbed, according to Holmquist.
Hanna was charged with attempted murder, elevated aggravated assault, unlawful sexual contact, robbery, criminal restraint, burglary and criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon in the West Bath attack, Holmquist said.
On Wednesday, Superior Court Justice Daniel Billings ruled that Hanna could not be held accountable for the attacks after Dr. Sarah Miller, the head of the state forensic services, testified that he was diagnosed with schizophrenia, according to the Sun Journal.
Hanna, now 24, has been placed with the Maine Department of Health and Human Services, and will be released to the Riverview Psychiatric Hospital in Augusta for treatment.
Miller testified that Hanna was experiencing the symptoms of a psychotic break at the time of the attack on Pearson.
According to Maine law, a person can be found not criminally responsible if “a mental disease or defect” prevents that person from understanding that their conduct was wrong.
The court is then required to commit the person to the custody of the Maine DHHS, and they must place the person in an institution or residential program for treatment.
BDN writer Chris Burns contributed to this report.