AUGUSTA — A man found not criminally responsible for the 2006 shooting death of a 13-year-old Palmyra boy and committed to state custody wants to be allowed to perform his stand-up comedy routine in bars, move to southern Maine and be allowed to travel, unsupervised, statewide.
Todd Curry, who shot and killed 13-year-old Anthony Tucker, the son of his then-girlfriend, with a rifle outside their Palmyra home while suffering from psychosis Nov. 28, 2006, petitioned the courts to expand his privileges. Among them is a request to be allowed to perform stand-up comedy at locations where alcohol is served.
State officials warned Justice Joyce Wheeler that if she were to approve that request, it could result in a potentially disastrous situation if an audience member, particularly one under the influence of alcohol, were to discover that Curry, who performs comedy under a stage name, had killed a child.
“Mr. Curry is a person who killed a 13-year-old boy, and the risk to him, and impression it’d convey to others, (drunken) others, who might very easily learn who he is and that he was found not criminally responsible, I think could lead to a disastrous situation for him,” testified Dr. Ann LeBlanc, former director of the State Forensic Service who is now doing contract work for the service. “Should he be doing stand-up comedy and people figure out who he is, I don’t think he could handle it very well.”
Curry, who has done stand-up comedy since 1992, said he’s performed at the LINC Club, which is a peer support club in Augusta, and a sandwich shop in Augusta where he said performing was difficult. He said he wants to be able to perform his act in locations where alcohol is served, such as bars, where he thinks he’d get a better reception.
“It’s hard to connect with an audience that hasn’t had a couple of drinks,” Curry said Friday on the witness stand at the Capital Judicial Center in Augusta.
Wheeler did not rule Friday on Curry’s petition for an expansion of privileges, instead taking time to consider the requests before ruling.
Curry is living in an unsupervised apartment in the Augusta area and working at a hardware store in the city. He also is seeking to be allowed to travel statewide, to buy a home and move to southern Maine in part to be closer to his father, to be able to take passengers in his van without them being vetted by his treatment team, and to be allowed to go kayaking outside of the Augusta area without being required to check in before and after his paddles.
He currently is required to check in with his outpatient treatment team at least five times each week, three of them face-to-face and two by phone, and comply with a curfew that restricts how much time he can spend outside of his residence, and those conditions would remain in place if his request for expanded privileges were granted.
Members of his outpatient treatment team at Riverview Psychiatric Center recommended against allowing him to move too far away from Augusta, where the half-dozen members of his treatment team are based, but did recommend he be allowed to purchase and move to his own home as long as it is within 50 miles of Augusta.
Those committed to state custody after being found not criminally responsible for crimes must petition the court when seeking changes in the conditions under which they are held.
Assistant Attorney General Laura Yustak said Tucker’s family opposes the proposed expansions of Curry’s privileges.
A protection order, a 15-year extension of a previous protection order obtained by the victim’s mother, that bans Curry from any contact with the mother or her daughter, and from being in Waterville other than passing through it on Interstate 95, remains in place.
Curry said if his request to be allowed to travel statewide is granted, he still would abide by the terms of that protection order.
He said the requirement that any potential passengers who might travel with him in his vehicle be screened by his treatment team before they can go with him makes people uncomfortable and afraid of him.
He said he wants to move to the Buxton area to be closer to his father, who lives in Saco. He said he also thinks it is important for him to move a longer distance away from Tucker’s mother.
Curry wiped his eyes with a tissue after Yustak clarified that the woman was the mother of the boy he killed.
Curry currently is diagnosed with a personality change that previously was diagnosed as bipolar disorder, and he suffered a traumatic brain injury in a traffic accident when he was a teenager. He also has a history of psychosis and depression, as well as cannabis and alcohol use in remission. He is not prescribed any psychiatric medications now, according to Dr. Carolyn Criss, a Riverview Outpatient Services psychiatrist.
Andree Wright, Curry’s caseworker, said Curry is extremely reliable in keeping his appointments, has up to 12 hours of unsupervised time in the community now, is a reliable and well-liked employee at his job and has made excellent progress in his treatment program; and those who monitor him are “really confident in his responsibility and reliability, and we feel like he’s ready to continue to progress through the system.”
Also Friday, Wheeler granted an expansion of privileges to Charles Miles, who was found not criminally responsible for a 1999 fire that destroyed the Skowhegan State Fairgrounds. He was convicted later of damaging property and terrorizing staff members at Riverview.
Miles petitioned for, and was granted, permission to move from a supervised apartment to an independent apartment in the Augusta area, with conditions including that he comply with a curfew, have a working cellphone, have any visitors vetted by his treatment team, continue to have visits from his treatment team at least twice a week at his apartment, be tested for drugs and alcohol, and follow his individual service and living plans.
Dr. Lorraine Zamudio, a psychologist with Riverview Outpatient Services, said Miles has made remarkable progress in remaining in control of his behavior, follows the rules and has done well in his treatment. She said the treatment team has found Miles actually does better with a less intense level of supervision, in part because some staff members took an unnecessarily authoritarian approach with him that he found frustrating.
LeBlanc, the former State Forensic Service director, said Miles, who grew up in a neglectful environment, suffered a head injury as a toddler, didn’t learn many of the skills needed to live as an adult and has been institutionalized most of his life. She said he has shown he is able to deal successfully with other patients who have harassed him, has established relationships with friends and has learned to deal with adversity without harming himself or damaging property.
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