WILTON — A local man accused of killing his grandmother in December is continuing to undergo psychological evaluation and is not scheduled to appear in court any time soon, his attorney said on Monday.
Dana Craney, who was charged with murder in connection with the Dec. 20 death of his grandmother, Joanne Goudreau, remains in custody at the Franklin County jail.
Meanwhile, the property at 1130 Weld Road where Craney lived with Goudreau has been sold, and the trailer they lived in was destroyed in a controlled burn in April, said Wilton Police Chief Heidi Wilcox.
The site is now a pile of rubble, and all that remains of the home is a rusted trailer platform.
“He’s had a lifetime of mental health issues,” said Walter Hanstein, Craney’s attorney. “There is a great deal of paperwork to go through in the case.”
At Craney’s arraignment in January, Hanstein requested that Craney be sent to Riverview Psychiatric Center for evaluation as soon as a bed became available. He said Monday that they are still waiting.
“It’s been a problem statewide with delays in finding beds for forensic patients that need to be there,” Hanstein said.
The evaluation that would take place at Riverview is just one of many psychological evaluations Craney is scheduled to undergo, and so far the long wait has not held up the case, he said.
“The evaluations that have been going forward have still been going forward,” he said. “The one kind of evaluation the judge ordered be done at Riverview, an in-house evaluation, that has not been done yet, and it’s too early to tell if that will hold things up.”
Judge William Stokes also said at the arraignment Jan. 30 that Craney would be allowed 90 days to decide whether he would use an insanity defense at trial. Hanstein said Monday that the deadline has been extended to an unspecified date and will likely be decided at a scheduled phone conference in mid-June.
“Decisions like that can’t be made until these evaluations are finished,” he said.
Craney was arrested Dec. 21 after a relative went to check on his grandmother’s well-being and found her body outside the mobile home she shared with Craney.
According to court records, Craney is alleged to have told police that he hit Goudreau in the head with a hammer six or seven times while she slept, then left her body behind the mobile home in a depression in the yard.
Both Craney and his grandmother alleged that they were abused by the other, according to court records and interviews with neighbors.
One neighbor, Tim Gregory, told the Morning Sentinel that Goudreau told him and his wife in the weeks before her death that her grandson had hit her and that she didn’t feel safe.
Craney allegedly told police that Goudreau had abused him his entire life and that he “needed to end it.” He is the son of convicted murder Dana A. Craney, who killed Leon Michaud in Auburn in 1990 and is incarcerated.
Rachel Ohm — 612-2368
Twitter: @rachel_ohm
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