12/06/2007
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Staff Photo by David LeamingJustice Joseph Jabar's finding means that Curry, 40, of Palmyra, will be committed to a mental health institution for treatment. He was originally charged with murder.
The finding came after a psychologist and a psychiatrist testified that Curry suffers from bipolar disorder and was in the grip of a profound psychosis the morning he picked up an assault-type rifle and gunned down Anthony Tucker.
Tucker, who was described as mature beyond his years and protective of his siblings, was the last to leave the home his family shared with Curry on Warren Hill Road on Nov. 28, 2006.
That morning, Curry, who had not slept the night before, became increasingly violent, threatening himself, his girlfriend April Cooley, and their infant daughter, Alyssa, before finally killing Anthony.
In a rambling, disjointed statement, Curry said that he thought someone was contacting him with a message to kill one person in the house to save the world.
"I thought of the whole world and I said to myself 'I can beat this, I am just going to kill myself,' and then I put something up to my throat. April said 'no' .... and then all hell broke loose," said Curry.
Several times during his short speech, Curry broke down. At one point, his attorney, Janet Mills, asked him if his recollection of the day differed from the accounts of the psychiatric experts.
Curry said "no," and then apologized to the parents and sister of Anthony Tucker.
"I want to say I am very sorry to April and Randy (Tucker) and Adrienne (Tucker). I wish this whole thing never happened. He was the greatest kid in the world," Curry said.
As he finished his statement, Cooley, who attended the hearing with a female friend, was in tears.
Curry's father and sister were also in the courtroom Wednesday, along with a handful of other people.
Curry, who is about 5-foot-6-inches tall, wore handcuffs and leg shackles as he entered the courtroom and appeared deeply despondent.
He spent most of the hearing slumped over in his chair next to his attorney, his eyes often closed, at times his head almost touching the table in front of him.
Janet Mills, Curry's attorney, told Jabar that she had hired her own investigator, visited the home where Curry lived with Cooley and the children in chaotic surroundings, and had gone through many pages of psychiatric records.
"There is nothing that I have uncovered that would be different than what the psychologist and psychiatrist told you today. No facts, frankly, that belie this legitimate, sincere and warranted defense," said Mills.
The plea agreement reached between Mills and Assistant Attorney General Andrew Benson had two parts -- that Curry intentionally caused Anthony Tucker's death, but that he was legally insane when he pulled the trigger.
Under Maine law, a person 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.
Curry, who suffered a serious brain injury in a 1986 automobile accident, has bipolar disorder with psychotic features, according to Dr. Andrew Wisch, a psychologist who examined Curry over a period of months.
Because Curry's mental illness was complicated by the injury, his mental state was more fragile, making him vulnerable to dramatic shifts in mood, said Wisch.
The psychologist said the condition could also worsen with stress or the use of marijuana or alcohol.
Wisch said his investigation indicated that in the week before Tucker's death, Curry became increasingly psychotic -- a state characterized by a loss of contact with reality.
Curry apparently believed that members of a motorcycle gang were after him and he spent all of one night behind the door of a hotel room in Old Orchard Beach, holding a knife.
At other times, he believed that the police and aliens were involved in a conspiracy against him and that the Secret Service was escorting him as he drove back to Maine from Boston.
The night before the shooting, Curry stayed up all night, said Wisch.
In the morning, his actions became increasingly erratic and violent as he whipsawed from one delusion to another, according to testimony and court records.
Early that morning, he proposed to Cooley and told her he was going to be the President of the United States.
Then, taking a cast iron poker from a wood stove, he threatened to harm first himself, then Cooley and Alyssa, according to an affidavit signed by State Police Detective Christopher Tupper.
After Curry retrieved an assault-type rifle and used it to strike her, Cooley fled, yelling to then-10-year-old Adrienne Tucker to follow her, according to the affidavit.
Adrienne woke up Anthony and grabbed her baby sister Alyssa, then less than seven months old, and left the home.
She was outside when Anthony was shot down before her eyes. He was killed by "multiple" bullets to the head, according to the state Medical Examiner's Office.
Wisch said he believed Curry was "extremely psychotic" at the time of the shooting.
"It is quite possible that he thought he was saving the world or doing something good at that moment," said Wisch.
Alan Crowell -- 474-9534, Ext. 342
acrowell@centralmaine.com
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Women in abusive relationships lose their ability to see an "out", they feel as if they can't make it without their abuser, and often blame themselves for being abused. Add the mental disease involved in this case and I myself can't even begin to imagine what it was like to live with this man. Yes, her children deserved to be protected and to have better lives; but I highly doubt that their mother stayed out of a lack of love or concern for her kids.
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