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By ALAN CROWELL
Staff Writer 12/05/2007

Todd Curry, 40, is accused of shooting Anthony Tucker multiple times in the head with an assault-type rifle as Tucker was leaving the Warren Hill Road home that Curry shared with Tucker's mother April Cooley and her two other children, including Curry's infant daughter.

The Nov. 28, 2006, shooting came on a chaotic morning during which Curry's behavior became increasingly erratic and violent, causing first Cooley, then her children to flee. Anthony, a boy described as protective of his siblings, was the last to leave.

Curry is charged with murder.

In July, he pleaded not guilty by reason of serious mental disease or defect. For most of the past year, he has been at Riverview Psychiatric Center in Augusta, where he has undergone a series of evaluations.

Janet Mills, Curry's attorney, said today's hearing will focus largely on the results of those examinations.

"We are going to present the findings of the various forensic evaluators to Justice Jabar," said Mills.

While Jabar will ask any questions he thinks are appropriate, Mills said the role of the attorneys primarily will be to present forensic evidence.

"Ultimately, it is up to the judge to draw the legal conclusion," she said.

Mills said there is little question in her own mind that both the factual evidence and the results of the psychiatric examinations point to her client being not criminally responsible for his actions that morning.

Under Maine law, someone is not criminally responsible if he or she is unable, by reason of mental disease or defect, to appreciate the wrongfulness of his or her actions at the time of the crime.

Curry, who suffered a brain injury in an automobile accident in 1986, has a long history of mental illness and had been hospitalized repeatedly in psychiatric institutions.

The morning of the shooting, Curry, who did not sleep the night before, asked Cooley to marry him and then began talking about a conspiracy against him between aliens and police.

Taking a cast iron poker from a wood stove, he threatened to harm himself, Cooley and their infant daughter Alyssa, according to an affidavit signed by State Police Detective Christopher Tupper.

After Cooley called the police, Curry retrieved an assault-type rifle and struck her several times, according to the affidavit.

Cooley then ran from the home, after yelling to her then 10-year-old daughter, Adrianne Tucker, to run as well.

Adrianne woke up Anthony and grabbed Alyssa, who was less than 7 months old, before leaving.

Adrianne was outside holding her sister when Anthony was shot, according to testimony and a police affidavit.

According to testimony at a January court hearing, Adrianne described Curry as laughing and having a "mean" look on his face. She told police she thought he didn't do anything to her because she was holding the baby.

When police arrived on the freezing morning, Curry was soaking wet and wearing only a T-shirt and sweatpants.

Confronted by a Somerset County sheriff's deputy, Curry charged the deputy.

He later asked a deputy to shoot him.

Alan Crowell -- 474-9534, Ext. 342

acrowell@centralmaine.com

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