This story was updated at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.
BURLINGTON — State’s Attorney Sarah George announced Tuesday that her office had dismissed two high-profile murder cases and one attempted murder case after determining there was not enough evidence to rebut the defendants’ planned insanity defenses.
The individuals involved in the dismissed cases are Louis Fortier, charged with a murder on Church Street in Burlington in March 2017; Aita Gurung, charged for murdering his wife in October 2017 with a meat cleaver in Burlington; and Veronica Lewis, charged with attempted murder for shooting her firearms instructor in 2015 in Westford.
George wrote in a press release that her office had filed notices of dismissal, without prejudice, for each of the cases on Friday.
She wrote that each of the defendants had submitted opinions from psychiatrists that they were insane at the time of the crime, and that the state received evidence from each of a long history of major mental illness diagnoses and previous psychiatric hospitalizations.
“Our review of the evidence indicates that Defendants have substantial admissible evidence to prove to a jury by a preponderance of the evidence that they were insane at the time the crimes were committed,” George wrote. “Despite retention of expert forensic psychiatrists who conducted thorough evaluations of Defendants, the State does not have sufficient evidence to rebut these insanity defenses.”
The announcement came about two weeks after George beat the insanity defense in the case of Steven Bourgoin, who is awaiting sentencing for killing five teenagers in a wrong-way collision on the interstate.
In that case, an expert hired by the defense, as well as an expert initially retained by the state, concluded that Bourgoin was insane at the time of the crash. To rebut the testimony of those two experts for the defense during the trial, George called an expert to testify who examined Bourgoin closer to the time of the crash than the two defense experts.
That expert who testified for the prosecution concluded that Bourgoin was not insane at the time of the offense.
Fortier, Gurung and Lewis are currently in the custody of the Department of Mental Health.
George wrote that she expected the department to maintain custody over all three defendants until they are no longer at risk to harm themselves or others.
“After a thorough and exhaustive review of the evidence in their possession, and the laws at their disposal, it is the State’s position that these three individuals’ conduct was solely a product of major mental illnesses, and that justice for the victims of that conduct is therefore in the hands of the Department of Mental Health,” George said.
George, reached late Tuesday afternoon, said she had a meeting to attend and would be available to answer questions Wednesday.
Vermont Defender General Matthew Valerio, reached out of his office late Tuesday afternoon, said he hadn’t seen yet seen the press release from the Chittenden County state’s attorney.
He said he couldn’t speak specifically about the cases because he wasn’t sure of the legal representation of the three defendants.
Valerio did say it’s not common to have serious charges dismissed in three such high-profile all at once due to the insanity defense, though he said believed it was a matter of coincidence.
“You might go another 10 years and never see anything like that,” he said, adding, “You might not see another one in a big case.”
Valerio said there have been murder cases in Vermont where defendants have been found either incompetent to stand trial or insane at the time of the offense.
He pointed to the case of Elizabeth Teague, who was found incompetent to stand trial for a 1991 workplace shooting in Bennington County. She has been in a psychiatric facility since, he said.
According to court records, Teague walked into her former employer, Eveready Battery in Bennington, and shot and killed her supervisor. She shot two other workers before fleeing and being captured near the Canadian border.
Veronica Lewis
Lewis pleaded not guilty in June 2015 to a charge of attempted first-degree murder.
According to a report on WPTZ-TV, Lewis left a group home for people with mental illness and went to Westford for firearms training.
During her second class, the television station reported, she shot instructor Darryl Montague twice in the face and once in the upper abdomen. He survived the shooting.
In late October 2015, at the request of the prosecution, a competency evaluation of Lewis was ordered by the court. However, it couldn’t be conducted due to Lewis’ “unwillingness to participate, no examination or findings were accomplished,” court records stated.
In August 2016, Lewis’ attorney and the prosecution requested another competency examination, which was granted by the court. Also, the defense hired its own expert to evaluate Lewis for competency and sanity.
Then in January 2017, the court found that Lewis did understand court procedure and process, but didn’t have the ability to consult with her lawyer “with a reasonable degree of rational understanding,” leading the judge to find she wasn’t competent to stand trial.
A year later, in January 2018, and after treatment, Lewis was deemed competent to stand trial, and in March 2018 her attorneys notified the prosecution of their intent to use the insanity defense.
The defense expert, Dr. David Rosmarin, a forensic psychiatrist, had concluded that Lewis was insane at the time of the offense, suffering from a schizoaffective disorder.
“He opined that at the time of the shooting,” George wrote in the dismissal notice, “Defendant was paranoid, highly delusional, terrified, and suffering from a formal thought disorder with extremely concrete thinking; were it not for the combination of her chronic and then-active psychosis she would not have shot the victim.”
The prosecution also hired an expert, Dr. Jonathan Weker, a forensic psychiatrist who also concluded that Lewis was insane at the time of the offense.
“In this case,” George wrote in her filing, “in light of the opinions of Dr. Rosmarin and Dr. Weker, Defense counsel has substantial admissible evidence to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that Defendant was insane at the time the crimes were committed and is therefore not criminally responsible.
She added, “The State does not have sufficient evidence to rebut this insanity defense.”
Aita Gurung
Gurung was charged with one count of first-degree murder and one count of first-degree attempted murder after killing his wife, Yogeswari Khadka, 32, and seriously injuring his mother-in-law, Thulsa Rimal, on Oct. 12, 2017, at their residence in the Old North End of Burlington.
The attack began around 2:30 p.m. and spilled into the street. Gurung had been released from the University of Vermont Medical Center earlier that day after being admitted nearly a week earlier for a mental health evaluation.
Gurung was found competent to stand trial by Dr. Paul Cotton in December 2017, but Cotton found that Gurung was insane at the time of the attack, suffering from schizophrenia.
“Schizophrenia, Dr. Cotton explained, is a substantial disorder that could significantly affect the Defendant’s judgement, behavior, and the ability to meet the ordinary demands of life,” George wrote in notice of dismissal. “Dr. Cotton further explained that Defendant lacked adequate capacity to conform his conduct to the requirements of the law at the time of alleged offenses due to his major mental illness.”
Dr. John Malloy, Gurung’s treatment provider since days after the crime, testified that he believed that Gurung was severely psychotic and his ability to “rationally perceive reality was substantially impaired” at the start of his hospitalization.
While Gurung’s psychosis diminished since that time, his depressive symptoms increased, Malloy testified. Following Malloy’s testimony, the court ruled that Gurung was a danger to himself and others.
The state retained an expert, Dr. Albert Drukteinis, who determined in a report dated Dec. 5, 2018, that Gurung was insane at the time of the crime. Drukteinis determined that Gurung’s behavior was psychotic and that Gurung said he was hearing voices telling him to kill his wife at the time of the attack.
Based on the findings of Drukteinis and Cotton, George determined that Gurung had enough evidence to prove he was insane at the time of the crime and was not criminally responsible.
Louis Fortier
Fortier was charged with first-degree murder for stabbing Richard Medina, 43, on the Church Street Marketplace in Burlington around 2 p.m. on March 29, 2017. Fortier allegedly stabbed Medina in the head, neck and back at the intersection of Church and Cherry streets.
Fortier was found not competent to stand trial by Cotton and Rosmarin in spring 2017. The court ruled he was incompetent to proceed and placed him in Department of Mental Health custody in June 2017.
In June 2018, the court ordered another psychiatric evaluation of Fortier after receiving an update from the Vermont Psychiatric Care Hospital that his condition had improved.
Cotton examined Fortier and determined that he was competent to stand trial. Cotton determined Fortier was suffering from schizophrenia at the time of the attack.
“Dr. Cotton indicated that despite irrational thinking, Defendant likely appreciated the potential criminality of his alleged act,” George wrote in the notice of dismissal. “However, in Dr. Cotton’s opinion, Defendant lacked adequate capacity to conform his conduct to the requirements of the law at the time of the alleged offense.”
Cotton ruled Fortier was insane at the time of the attack as Fortier’s “degree of fear during his untreated, disordered mental state deprive Defendant of the capacity to choose an alternative course.”
In December 2018, the court found Fortier competent to stand trial based on Cotton’s report. Cotton drafted a supplemental report affirming his opinion Fortier was insane at the time of the alleged offense.
George determined that based on Cotton’s report, Fortier had sufficient evidence to prove he was insane at the time of the attack.
*Aita Gurung dismissal notice
