AUBURN — Prosecutors are seeking a mental evaluation of a Lewiston man charged with murder and manslaughter in the death of his infant son.
Attorneys for Danny Adams, 24, have opposed a motion by the state.
Assistant Attorney General Matthew Crockett wrote in his motion filed in Androscoggin County Superior Court that the state “anticipates that one of the likely issues in this case will be whether, at the time of the offense, the defendant was suffering from an abnormal condition of mind, or the extent to which he was unable to appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct.”
Crockett said that in order to get the “most accurate determination of a suspect’s state of mind at the time of the offense, it is best to perform such an evaluation as close in time to the crime as possible.”
Police wrote in an affidavit that Adams had forced a pacifier into the mouth of his 14-week-old son, Zade, on the morning of Dec. 14, 2014, in an effort to keep him from crying and held it in place.
An autopsy determined the cause of death was asphyxiation.
Adams has been held without bail since his arrest in early January. He appeared in February in Androscoggin County Superior Court where he pleaded not guilty to both counts.
In answering the state’s motion, attorney Donald Hornblower, who represents Adams, wrote that “if the state believes it has a good-faith basis to believe the defendant had an abnormal condition of mind at the time of the offense . . . then the state’s charges are unfair, unethical and should be dismissed.”
Hornblower also wrote that forcing Adams to participate in a forensic evaluation would violate his constitutional rights.
Adams told police in an earlier interview that he had injected heroin the night before at a friend’s house, then smoked marijuana with Kaitlyn Baker, Zade’s mother, when Adams got home. He said he had bruised Zade’s ears when he squeezed them with his thumb and fingers as he held the head of the baby, who continued to cry, according to court documents.
cwilliams@sunjournal.com
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