Judges: Cannibal not guilty due to insanity Bridgeport: Man likely to spend rest of life in psychiatric institution

Defendant Tyree Lincoln Smith, right, makes eye contact with his attorney, public defender Joseph Bruckmann, after hearing the not guilty by reason of insanity verdict during his murder trial in state Superior Court in Bridgeport, Conn. on Tuesday, July 9, 2013. less Defendant Tyree Lincoln Smith, right, makes eye contact with his attorney, public defender Joseph Bruckmann, after hearing the not guilty by reason of insanity verdict during his murder trial in state Superior ... more Photo: Brian A. Pounds Photo: Brian A. Pounds Image 1 of / 12 Caption Close Judges: Cannibal not guilty due to insanity 1 / 12 Back to Gallery

BRIDGEPORT -- Bridgeport cannibal Tyree Lincoln Smith will likely serve out the rest of his life in a mental hospital after a three-judge panel found him not guilty of murder Tuesday by reason of insanity.

Following the trial of one of the city's most notorious -- and certainly most gruesome -- murder cases, the Florida man who claimed he was ordered by voices to kill and eat a homeless man was to be committed to a state mental hospital, pending further evaluation.

His next court hearing is Sept. 9, where psychiatrists will testify about whether he is safe to send back into the community -- a doubtful outcome for a man who's admitted to having an appetite for human flesh.

"We have to look at the big picture," Smith's lawyer, Joseph Bruckmann, urged the judges. "We can't overlook that he ate part of the man's brain and his eyeballs in a cemetery."

The verdict was greeted with a gasp from Talitha Frazier, sister-in-law of the victim, Angel "Tun Tun" Gonzalez.

"Justice has been served!" Frazier loudly proclaimed. "I don't care where he serves the rest of his life as long as it's behind locked doors."

Just moments before, Frazier got into a yelling match in the courtroom with a man who would only identify himself as a relative of Smith's.

"Tyree, Tyree! I'm your blood, I'm your blood!" the unidentified man shouted.

"I ain't saying he didn't do it, I know he did -- but I'm his blood," he said before walking away.

Smith, a damp stain on the front of his prison-issued sweatshirt, said he had nothing to say as he was led shackled from the courtroom by judicial marshals.

The three Superior Court judges, John Kavanewsky, John Blawie and Maria Kahn, deliberated about an hour before determining that State's Attorney John Smriga had proved the 35-year-old Smith killed Gonzalez on Dec. 15, 2011, and cannibalized the victim's body.

But they found Bruckmann had proved his client was insane at the time.

"The defendant was unable, as a result of a mental disease, a psychosis attended by command hallucinations, to control his conduct within the requirements of the law," Kavanewsky said from the bench.

"There have been two tragedies in this case," said Bruckmann, who with Lindsay Colvin represented Smith during the three-day trial. "The first was the senseless death of Mr. Gonzalez, and the second is that Tyree Smith has been a tortured soul for many years. He's been tortured by voices for decades and now that he is properly medicated, he is horrified he caused Mr. Gonzalez's death."

Smith grew up in Bridgeport and Ansonia and later lived in California before moving to Lynn Haven, Fla.

During the trial, Smith's cousin, Nicole Rabb, testified that in December 2011 Smith showed up at her door 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 hatchet.

Rabb said she kicked Smith out of her Seaview Avenue apartment after he told her he had killed a man with a hatchet and ate some of his body parts in the Lakeview Cemetery, washing them down with sake, a Japanese alcoholic beverage made from fermented rice.

A month later, police found Gonzalez's mutilated body in a vacant apartment on Brooks Street, the same apartment where Smith had lived as a child.

Police recovered the bloody hatchet and an empty bottle of sake in a stream bed off Boston Avenue.

The defense's case rested mainly on the testimony of Yale University psychiatrist Dr. Reena Kapoor. She testified that Smith retained his lust for human flesh after his arrest -- even offering to eat her.

Kapoor claimed that Smith had suffered from psychotic incidents since childhood and heard voices that told him to kill people.

She 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."

She said after Smith ate the body parts he went to the Subway sandwich shop on Main Street because he was apparently still hungry.

Smith is expected to be transported to the Whiting Forensic Institute in Middletown, at least until his next court hearing.

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