Judge Declares Neil Amendola Competent to Stand Trial

A judge today declared Neil Amendola legally competent to stand trial for the severe of another Branford man on March 12.

During a competency hearing in New Haven Superior Court, Judge Roland Fasano said he accept the conclusion of social worker Susan McKinley of Connecticut Valley Hospital in Middletown, who said the hospital’s psychiatric competency evaluation team found that Amendola is not and was able to understand trial proceedings and assist in his own defense.

When Amendola took the witness stand during the hearing, he appeared unable to answer some of the questions. He also claimed to be concerned about being transformed into a woman and thought he was being monitored by the NSA (National Security Agency), the CIA and the FBI.

Assistant State’s Attorney Maxine Wilensky accused Amendola of "acting" like he was crazy and noted the behavior he exhibited in court was not observed during his two-month evaluation by psychiatrists and other mental health experts at the hospital.

Judge Fasano said he would not comment on the "acting" accusation, but he was satisfied that McKinley’s nine-page report was very thorough.

"He understands the proceedings and is competent to stand trial," Judge Fasano said.

Amendola’s attorney, Michael Dolan, interrupted the ruling to complain that Wilensky was trying to have a staring contest with the defendant. Wilensky said she was only trying to see Amendola’s reaction to Judge Fasano’s ruling.

Judge Fasano ordered Wilensky to stop looking at Amendola, and then set July 7 as the next date for a pretrial court appearance.

Amendola is charged with first degree assault for beating , a family friend, when he went to his house at 6 Patrick Lane to fix a damaged garage door. Amendola’s mother and Stewart’s wife were teachers together at

Amendola sat in the courtroom dressed in a wrinkled blue shirt, khaki pants and sneakers. He did not look disheveled as he did at his last court appearance on April 19 when Judge Fasano ordered the psychiatric evaluation. But most of the time he stared straight ahead and did not appear to be paying attention to McKinley when she took the witness stand.

Dr. Christopher Raczynski, a New Haven psychiatrist, testified at the earlier hearing that Amendola exhibited symptoms of paranoia and "thought blocking," a mental condition that prevents a person from communicating his thoughts.

McKinley said the Connecticut Valley Hospital’s evaluation team did not observe either condition during Amendola’s stay there, although he did appear depressed.

Early in his stay, she said Amendola complained that the FBI was monitoring him, but he stopped saying that after two days. McKinley said it is common for psychiatric patients to claim they are being monitored, because they are confined to a hospital full of closed circuit video cameras.

She said he also had difficulty explaining what happened to him and initially refused to cooperate with the doctors or sign release forms. Later, however, he participated in treatment activities and discussed his case, which convinced the evaluation team he has the mental capacity to testify in court and follow his trial.

When Amendola took the witness stand, he became confused when Judge Fasano informed him of his right to remain silent. That necessitated a 15-minute recess while he conferred with Dolan.

Amendola said the government agencies were monitoring him "to see how I’d react to different cues," to determine if he were "an upstanding person," and to protect national security. They were monitoring him, "right at that time in the courtroom," he said.

But minutes later, he told Wilensky he never explained why the agencies were monitoring him.

Wilensky recalled McKinley to the witness stand, where she stated Amendola did not exhibit any of that behavior at Connecticut Valley Hospital.

"We are not of the opinion that Mr. Amendola is psychotic today," she said.

McKinley said most people who have paranoid beliefs have trouble keeping them secret.

But she admitted to Dolan that a paranoid person who also had thought blocking might not be able to talk about his paranoia.