Amesbury man charged with mom’s slay
An Amesbury man with “paranoid delusions” stabbed his mother to death, sliced his stepfather’s face and attempted to flee before claiming diplomatic immunity to arresting officers, police and prosecutors say.
John Brittan, 27, walked into his arraignment Monday at Newburyport District Court with long brown hair, a large beard, an oversized white T-shirt and gazed around the courtroom as charges including murder were read against him.
A judge, with Brittan’s attorney and a doctor’s recommendation, ordered Brittan undergo evaluation for competency at Bridgewater State Hospital until his next court appearance March 20.
Brittan is accused of killing his mother, Barbara Diehl-Peirce, 65, of Amesbury and stabbing his stepfather, Edmund Peirce, Saturday afternoon at Diehl-Peirce’s home on Chester Street.
Supporters of the victims embraced each other during the hearing, and a woman in the group told a Herald reporter repeatedly they had nothing to say.
Seven police reports describe Amesbury cops responding to the incident at 4:05 p.m. and simultaneously searching for Brittan who fled the scene. A K-9 officer helped cops locate an “improvised handgun” and a knife in bushes at the address before a barefoot, bloodied and feces-covered Brittan was arrested on Powow Street.
At the home on Chester Street, Pierce appeared to have serious head trauma and told police Brittan is a “paranoid schizophrenic,” while Diehl-Pierce was clinging to life.
Dr. Nancy Nelligan told a judge Brittan was unable to communicate during an evaluation, and had previously been hospitalized in 2017 for a schizophrenic episode.
“He was quite grandiose in his interactions with me,” Nelligan said. “He voiced paranoid delusions, he was irritable.”
Police describe Brittan talking about his diplomatic immunity as a British royal and relation to singer Justin Bieber during his booking. According to police, Brittan also said he attacked his mother and stepfather because his “alleged mother” kidnapped and tried to poison him.
John Andrews, representing Brittan, spoke to his client’s father, David Brittan after the hearing and told the Herald he couldn’t comment further because he wasn’t yet familiar with the case.
Court records indicate Brittan has a past suspended license for an OUI charge in 2012 and an assault charge in 2013.
A police report from Brittan’s 2013 assault charge describes John Brittan swinging a broken chair near his father, David, before his father allegedly punched his son in the face to stop the behavior. The assault charge was dismissed two months later.