Brain-eating cannibal back in public life after 10 years
Brain-eating cannibal back in public life after 10 years
Tyree Smith, from Bridgeport, Connecticut, killed a homeless man and then ate his brain and eyeballs. Ten years after being committed to a state psychiatric hospital for 60, he has been released.
A man who killed and ate a man has been released back into public life after ten years.
Tyree Smith, from Bridgeport, Connecticut, killed a homeless man and then ate his brain and eyeballs according to officials.
The horrific case made headline news, with Smith found not guilty of murder by reason of insanity after a July 2013 trial.
In lieu of a stint behind bars, Smith was ordered committed to a state psychiatric hospital for 60 years.
But now, ten years after the grim incident, the state Psychiatric Security Review Board said Smith was ready to be transitioned back into the community.
Smith has been released from the facility, Connecticut’s most secure, as of writing.
He will be living in a Waterbury group home, and is not allowed to associate with anyone involved in criminal activity.
The board stated in its report: “Tyree Smith is an individual with a psychiatric illness requiring care, custody and treatment.
“Since his last hearing Tyree Smith has continued to demonstrate clinical stability.
“Mr. Smith is medication compliant, actively engaged in all recommended forms of treatment, and has been symptom-free for many years.”
During the trial, Smith’s cousin Nicole Rabb claimed he arrived at her Connecticut home in December 2011, talking about Greek gods and ruminating about needing to go out and get blood.
When she saw him the next evening she noticed what appeared to be specks of blood on his pants and that he was carrying chopsticks and a bloody ax.
Smith then allegedly told Rabb he killed a man and ate his brains in the Lakeview Cemetery while drinking sake, and grimly warned he intended to eat more people.
A month later, police found Angel Gonzalez's mutilated body in the vacant apartment on Brooks Street in Bridgeport where Smith had lived as a child.
Police later recovered the bloody ax and an empty bottle of sake in a stream bed near the Boston Avenue cemetery.
The defense's case rested on the testimony of Yale University psychiatrist Dr. Reena Kapoor, who testified that Smith had kept his lust for human flesh after his arrest, even offering to eat her.
Kapoor claimed Smith suffered from psychotic incidents since childhood and heard voices that told him to kill people.
She then said the voices ordered Smith to eat the victim's brain so they would get a better understanding of human behavior and the eyes so that they could see into the "spirit realm."
Kapoor added that Smith went to Subway after eating the man's body parts.
The report on Smith’s release said: “He denied experiencing cravings but stated that if they were to arise, he would reach out to his hospital and community supports and providers.”
The American punitive view vs. a rehabilitative one is terrifyingly real in these comments. It was an awful awful thing that happened, and he should be monitored the rest of his life, but if it is determined by medical professionals (a.k.a. not you) then he deserves to lead a full life, and have the opportunity to contribute to a society that he caused harm too instead of being a cost to taxpayers everywhere for the rest of his life, while he is medicated and able to rejoin society, that harms everyone even more in the long run.
This man should have had the health supports he needed before this ever happened, likely something exacerbated by the US medical system.
Also to dispel some common myths:
- Due to legal fees, it costs significantly MORE to sentence someone to death in the US (sidenote, also one of the few 1st world countries still conducting the backwards barbaric practice), than the cost of them continuing to serve life in prison; it is not the "cheap" option.
- Insanity pleas on average 1) yield longer sentences in mental facilities than similar cases where there was no insanity plea, b) if not successful in getting an insanity sentence yield longer jail sentences on average. From a criminal judicial standpoint, there is very rarely any advantage to pleading insanity, and it's even rarer still that someone actually gets it when they were not in fact insane. The testing, and level of evidence needed far exceeds what you can gather from a casual read and comment online. It is a hugely rare thing legally, we just tend to hear about them as they're represented in the media at disproportionate rates compared to standard trials.
To all my American friends, not shitting on you, you're a wonderful country, of largely wonderful people, but with some bad bad bad policies that I hope will improve in coming years.
Love,
Your hat.
The onion article writes itself
"Dude who ate someone's brain is out in the streets after saying 'I won't do it again' enough times"
If the antipsychotics are working, then fine. This dude was truly cracked at the time to both admit it to people and offer to eat his doctors.
the voices ordered Smith to eat the victim's brain so they would get a better understanding of human behavior and the eyes so that they could see into the "spirit realm."
"Disassembly reveals useful pathways"...
i hope the guy is truly rehabilitated and is getting the ongoing treatment he needs.
but lets be honest, id rather he not live on my street
Dude should have never been released simply because we can't ever be sure he'll take his medication or adhere to treatment in the future. At some point, the safety of an individual and the public takes priority over turning them loose on the streets.
never let a wendigo out once you have it caged
Someone point him at Elon.
The board stated in its report: “Tyree Smith is an individual with a psychiatric illness requiring care, custody and treatment.
“Since his last hearing Tyree Smith has continued to demonstrate clinical stability.So~ he's gonna be added to a secret list of people who basically get their (mandated) medication free, right? People's financial situation tend to worsen at times. 😐
I feel like threads like this also make a good case that people really, REALLY, don't understand psychosis. Dude doesn't just hear a whisper in his brain and star murdering. Those voices build and build and build until you literally can't hear yourself think. Then you break, your mind isn't your own, the voices have entirely drowned you out and you're tired because they haven't let you sleep in days and you've been off doing who the hell knows because you aren't even in control anymore.
It's a shame there is no spirit realm, he killed these men in vain... so senseless.
Seems like a good call.
Jesus fucking Christ....kill one person "sane" and it's life but murder mutilation like a death metal album = insanity (which is curable‽) and you're out in ten years. This country is fucked.
I’m… glad I don’t live in Connecticut. Put this guy on a no-fly list please.