The man who admitted to gruesomely murdering an unhoused man and eating his brain and eyeball, has been granted conditional release by Connecticut's Psychiatric Security Review Board.
Tyree Smith, who was found not guilty by reason of insanity in the 2011 killing of 43-year-old Angel Gonzalez, has spent the past decade at Connecticut Valley Hospital. Doctors overseeing his treatment claim he has been rehabilitated through medication and therapy, WFSB reported.
"To quote the director there, he is a joy," forensic psychiatrist Dr. Caren Teitelbaum said. "Once he was stable he was a really calming presence for other patients."
Despite these assurances, the conditional release has prompted concern, with Connecticut lawmakers warning that Smith, a diagnosed schizophrenic, could become a public danger if he stops taking his medication. "Murder and cannibalism and release in the same sentence. That's a problem," Republican Sen. Paul Cicarella said.
"His grandkids are scared. His daughter is scared," said Talitha Frazier, Gonzalez's sister-in-law. "How do we really know he's not going to do this again?"
Smith admitted to killing Gonzalez with an ax in an abandoned Bridgeport home before removing parts of his brain, an eyeball and several organs, which he then ate at a cemetery while drinking sake, the New York Post reported. Originally sentenced to 60 years in a mental institution, Smith will now be allowed supervised outings from the hospital before receiving further privileges.
Critics argue that his release is a dangerous mistake. "This person should never be out," a group of Republican Connecticut senators said in a joint statement. "We are dumbfounded at this injustice. In what universe is this OK?"
Originally published on Latin Times
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