Crime & Safety
Former Chaplin Man Who Beat Wife to Death Could Re-Enter Community
Middletown's Connecticut Valley Hospital Psychiatric Security Review Board heard psychiatrists and mental health workers, who defended an application for temporary leave for David Messenger.
A Connecticut Valley Hospital Psychiatric Security Review Board hearing Friday allowed psychiatrists and mental health workers to defend an application for temporary leave for the Chaplin man who beat his pregnant wife to death in 1998, according to the Middletown Press.
Testimony centered on David Messenger’s improved mental status, and one psychiatrist predicted that only negative media attention could compel him to reoffend, according to the Press.
Messenger, 61, didn't attend this his latest attempt to return to the community, this time at a supervised residence in Hartford, according to Channel 8.
Messenger, who was acquitted by reason of insanity in 2001 and committed to Connecticut Valley Hospital in Middletown, has served half of his 20-year sentence.
If the board grants his application this time, Messenger would move into a state halfway house, where he would have a 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew but allowed to travel at will through Hartford, Middlesex and New Haven counties, according to the Press Herald.
Heather Messenger's sister, Hannah Williamson, and a brother, Daniel Williamson Jr., traveled from out of state to argue that he remain at the mental hospital, the Press Herald is reporting.
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