Football brain injury cited in defence
Trying to explain how “a great kid from a great family,” would pull a balaclava over his face and terrorize occupants of a South Windsor home in an armed robbery, the defence believes it’s found the answer — football.
Dalton Gilmore, 25, pleaded guilty last summer to three counts of break and enter, robbery and committing a crime while wearing a mask connected to a home invasion in the 600 block of Morand Street on the night of March 19, 2018.
A sentencing hearing had been set for Gilmore on Tuesday before Superior Court Justice Thomas Carey, but defence lawyer Laura Joy sought an adjournment. She wants her client to be tested medically to explore whether there might be a link between head injuries Gilmore purportedly sustained over years in sports and his criminal behaviour on that night.
“This is so out of character,” Joy said in describing Gilmore. “I’d be proud to have him as my son.”
Joy said Gilmore suffered “numerous concussions” during years of playing football and that those injuries may have resulted in changes in personality that might help explain his involvement in the home invasion.
“Football’s been his life, your honour,” she said. Starting at age six, and playing through his school years and summers, Joy described how Gilmore was such a talented footballer at Holy Names Catholic High School in Windsor that he was recruited to play football at the College of the Redwoods in California. He returned home after an injury.
Personality-altering brain injuries to explain criminal behaviour is still “quite novel” in the justice system, Joy told the court, “but science is supporting it.”
This is so out of character. I’d be proud to have him as my son.
Carey appeared receptive to the idea of exploring the idea, saying he recently saw a documentary on Aaron Hernandez, the New England Patriots pro footballer convicted of murder who then committed suicide in jail in 2017. After his death, he was diagnosed with severe chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), cited as a potential contributing factor in his criminal behaviour.
Joy said the defence will be seeking experts in the field and that Gilmore could be sent to Michigan to undergo medical imaging such as a brain MRI. She said the defence hopes Gilmore, a first-time offender, can be “one of those exceptional circumstances” in which prison can be avoided in favour of a suspended sentence.
According to an agreed statement of facts introduced in court last August, two men in black balaclavas and black hoodies entered the South Windsor house through the front door around 10:45 p.m. Carrying what appeared to be black handguns, the Crown alleged the men forced the home’s four occupants into a bedroom and demanded money and drugs. One of the perpetrators pointed what appeared to be a handgun at the confined individuals while the other man searched the home.
Demetrius Porter, Gilmore’s co-accused who has a lengthy criminal record, was handed a fiveyear prison term last September, with the sentencing judge describing the home invasion as “clearly intolerable.” As for the victims, the prosecutor in the case said it remained “unclear whether they will ever recover from this.”
Gilmore’s sentencing hearing is now set for May 21.