FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Middletown, CT) – Middlesex Judicial District State’s Attorney Michael A. Gailor announced that a three-judge panel today committed Eugenio Vela III, age 21, of Middletown, to the jurisdiction of the Psychiatric Security Review Board for up to 30 years. The panel found that the state proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant intentionally committed the crime of Murder, in violation of Connecticut General Statutes § 53a-54a. The panel found the defendant not guilty, however, because they concluded that at the time he committed the offense, he lacked substantial capacity, as a result of a mental disease or defect, either to appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct or control his behavior.
According to evidence introduced at trial, on May 20, 2021, the defendant, 18 years old at the time, stabbed a woman more than 20 times in Middletown. The Honorable Judges Laura F. Baldini, Elizabeth C. Leaming and Eliot D. Prescott presided over the trial.
The defendant will be confined in the maximum security section of Whiting Forensic Hospital in Middletown.
The case was prosecuted by State’s Attorney Gailor and Supervisory Assistant State’s Attorney Jason Germain.
The Psychiatric Security Review Board, which is composed of individuals with expertise in the fields of law, psychology, psychiatry, victim's services, probation/parole services, and the interests of the community, is responsible for overseeing the confinement and treatment of persons acquitted by reason of mental disease or defect. In doing so, the Psychiatric Security Review Board is required to consider the protection of society and the well-being of the person committed.