The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Panel: Student’s killer to stay in max security
Board requested to hold hearing for man found not guilty due to insanity, who could be transferred
Editor’s note: This is the first in a two-part series on the state Psychiatric Review Board’s mandatory two-year public hearing held in mid-March. Tomorrow’s piece will delve into the panel’s review of Stephen Morgan.
MIDDLETOWN — The father of a Wesleyan University senior shot to death by a former classmate in May 2009 at the campus bookstore cafe where she worked is still haunted by the memories of his daughter.
Stephen P. Morgan, then 29, was found not guilty by reason of insanity in the killing of Johanna Justin-Jinich, a popular 21-year-old who gave often of her time to causes she believed in, particularly the reproductive rights of women, Daniel Jinich said.
He was committed to the Whiting Forensic maximum security division of Connecticut Valley Hospital for life (60 years) in February 2012.
During a review of the mandatory two-year hearing conducted by the Connecticut Security Psychiatric Review Board March 16, the decision was made to continue his confinement, Executive Director Ellen Weber Lachance said.
However, the panel will reconvene some time this summer after the hospital requested a transfer to the lower security unit of Dutcher Services following his review.
Every two years, Jinich attends these mandatory hearings for Morgan, who did not attend the latest one, revisiting the horror of his daughter’s death at the former Broad Street Books.
“It’s an never-ending nightmare, especially knowing that her killer will one day be released from his current confinement,” said the Ft. Collins, Colo., family physician, who spoke to the Press by email.
The PSRB is a state agency to which the Superior Court commits persons found not guilty of a crime by reason of mental disease or mental defect.
No matter how many years have passed, Jinich rarely escapes the memories of his daughter’s violent death.
“My life without Johanna cannot be expressed adequately, as only a person who has lost a child can comprehend the magnitude of my loss. For years, I have felt profound sadness, an emptiness that cannot be filled. The pain never goes away.”
Morgan, of Marblehead, Mass., and Justin-Jinich apparently met in 2007 while attending a summer class at New York University. Justin-Jinich filed a harassment complaint with police that summer claiming she was getting unwanted phone calls and insulting emails from Morgan, but she didn’t pursue criminal charges.
“Every morning, I walk by the tree we planted in remembrance of how Johanna Justin-Jinich’s life was brutally cut short without warning. There are plenty of warnings now, and Mr. Morgan must remain securely confined,” Wesleyan President Michael Roth said in a statement.
Jinich said his daughter was intrigued by music, travel, literature and writing. He offered a picture of a young lady at the peak of her life, heading toward a future of great promise.
“She was a brilliant student. She was very involved in causes that supported women’s rights and especially women’s reproductive rights. She volunteered for Planned Parenthood, and at Harmony House, a family visitation center where supervised visitations and exchanges take place — such as those for custody, abuse and divorce.”
There, Johanna-Junich offered her translating services for families. She also volunteered to serve the underprivileged on an Indian reservation, as well as in Guatemala, her father said. At the time of her death, she was ready to pursue a master’s degree in international public health.
A psychologist during the trial had diagnosed Morgan with paranoid schizophrenia and a staff evaluation found that Morgan was psychotic, depressed and a danger to others. At the time, prosecutors said Morgan stalked and harassed Justin-Jinich. It was also believed that Morgan was anti-Semitic.
During proceedings, testimony by a Whiting social worker said Morgan still suffers breaks with reality, disorganized thinking and is paranoid and delusional.
Morgan is on Seroquil, an antipsychotic, according to social worker Rebecca Ewald, who testified at the March hearing that Morgan’s “thinking was more flexible and logical compared to what he remembered feeling when he was not taking medications, which is namely paranoia, suspicious and afraid.”
In January of last year, according to the hearing transcript, Ewald said Morgan stopped taking his medication after receiving articles in the mail about another acquittee’s crimes believed to be from a fellow patient.
That’s when Morgan stopped taking medication and his physician stopped prescribing the drug.
“Staff observed Mr. Morgan becoming more internally preoccupied, as evidenced by his laughing and talking to himself more frequently. He had increased difficulty processing information and he paced the hallways,” Ewald said.
Morgan asked that his medication be gradually decreased, she said, and his symptoms returned.
Morgan asked to resume Seroquel last May.
“There should be positive rewards for positive progress in treatment, so there’s something for him to look forward to,” Ewald said.
Jinich appealed to the panel, “As a common-sense human being, as a fellow physician, I agree that this man is not only insane, but evil. You can medicate his insanity all you want into submission, but you will not eradicate his evil or the danger of his psychosis relapsing in a less-structured setting.
“You can suppress his behavior, you cannot change his core,” he added.