Comment: Defendant was interested in "gender fusion" and had "gender dysphoria." Evidence relied on by forensic psychologist who testified for defendant included "papers on feminizing hormone therapy" which suggests defendant was receiving hormone therapy prior to killing his wife. Article also notes that after the incident the defendant was "prescribed with a hormone due to reported gender dysphoria".
Ansonia man who killed wife with ax while children were home found not guilty by reason of insanity By Liz Hardaway, Staff Writer Updated Dec 11, 2024 5:01 p.m. MILFORD —
An Ansonia man who heard voices telling him to kill his wife before he reportedly murdered her with an ax more than three years ago was found not guilty by reason of insanity Wednesday. Kamil Zielinski, 31, was charged with murder and two counts of risk of injury to a child after police said he killed his wife, 34-year-old Grace Zielinska, while their 3-year-old and 4-month-old children were in the home.
On Wednesday, the second day of trial, a three-judge panel found that Zielinski was not guilty by reason of mental disease or mental defect. While the court found he did commit the crimes he was accused of, an affirmative defense was established because of his mental state, meaning he was not found liable for the crimes, according to Judge Shari A. Murphy.
The court committed Zielinski to the Psychiatric Security Review Board, which will have to prepare a report regarding his condition and recommendations. The court will hold a hearing to discuss the report on Feb. 21.
He had pleaded not guilty to the charges and was held in lieu of $1 million bail since his arrest in November 2021
Instead of being heard by a jury, the case was tried in front of a panel of three judges: Murphy, Stephanie A. Damiani and David L. Zagaja.
Both the state and defense rested their cases Wednesday.
Zielinski appeared in a black-and-white checkered button-down shirt and black pants Wednesday, and waved to people in the audience before he sat down next to his attorney that morning.
Attorney David Thompson, representing Zielinski in the case, pursued the affirmative defense. After the verdict, Thompson said he believed the court system worked.
“Mental illness is a hard struggle,” he said. “The court worked its way towards what we believe is a just and fair result, and now we’re fortunate that the PSRB will be able to assist him with what demons he has.”
Zielinski’s charges stem from a 911 call on Nov. 9, 2021, in which a dispatcher could hear yelling and commotion in the background. Police rushed to the Root Avenue home where they encountered the couple’s 3-year-old son, who told an officer to “come in.” The boy then pointed the officer toward the home’s kitchen, where officers saw Zielinski standing in front of his blood-covered wife, the report said. Zielinski also was covered in blood, and officers found a knife and bloody ax nearby, according to police. In addition to the 3-year-old boy, police found an infant sleeping in the home’s living room. The couple’s third child, a 5-year-old, was at school at the time.
The ‘throes of psychosis’
Dr. George Geysen, a clinical and forensic psychologist based out of Glastonbury testifying for the defense, provided some insight into Zielinski’s mental state prior to the killing.
At the crime, Geysen determined Zielinski was in the “throes of psychosis,” hearing malevolent voices spurred by his belief that his practice of the occult had gotten “sloppy.” These voices told Zielinski to kill his wife and eat her heart, Geysen said.
After he was incarcerated, Zielinski continued to have visits from a “dark, humanoid creature” that was upset at him, Geysen testified.
Geysen determined that, while in this psychosis, Zielinski was not able to separate right from wrong, he testified.
Through interviews with Zielinski, as well as reviewing records, reports and other materials, Geysen diagnosed Zielinski with schizoaffective disorder, the bipolar type.
Zielinski’s mental health conditions have been “persistent throughout adulthood” and went untreated, Geysen said. The first instances Geysen mentioned included visual disturbances Zielinski saw in his bedroom at 4 or 5 years old and a behavioral crisis at 17 years old after a breakup.
Geysen said Zielinski was interested in spiritualism, alchemy and “fusing gender opposites.” Before the incident, Zielinski was hospitalized at Griffin Hospital in January 2021 and was diagnosed with a personality disorder.
On the day of the incident, Zielinski left his job suddenly. He was at a job site where he was providing labor and material support, potentially electrical work, for his brother. At some point he believed there were intruders in his home, and a man potentially trying to abduct and hurt his children; he feared for his three children, Geysen testified.
Geysen said that he fled the job site after determining that the color of an orange wire was communicating a sign to him.
Zielinski said he held his wife’s heart and felt like he left his body, according to Geysen. Geysen went over two different reports he conducted regarding Zielinski’s mental state, the first from May 2024 and the other from Dec. 4, 2024.
To compile his reports,** Geysen said he reviewed **various police reports in the case, photos, emails, chat correspondences, audio recordings, evaluations regarding Zielinski’s competency, more than 460 pages of medical records from the state Department of Correction and papers on feminizing hormone therapy and cannabis-induced psychosis. Geysen said he used various tests and methods to evaluate Zielinski, and also interviewed him.
After the incident, Department of Correction medical records indicated Zielinski had been diagnosed with psychological ailments with which Geysen did not agree.**
Zielinski also was prescribed at this time with a hormone due to reported gender dysphoria **and other medications for depression and other conditions, Geysen said. At some point while in custody, Zielinski had been involuntarily medicated.
Geysen said Zielinski also expressed paranoia and grandiose delusions about the ability to project and read minds. Zielinski had also at the time threatened to harm himself. He continues to be involuntarily medicated with antipsychotics, Geysen said Wednesday.
‘What’s wrong with me?’
The first witness called to the stand was an emergency technician who worked at Griffin Hospital at the time of the incident. She and a police officer stayed with the two children who were in the home, a 4-month old and a 3-year-old. The couple’s third child, a 5-year-old boy, was at school during the incident.
The technician said she wasn’t told about the incident beforehand, but the 3-year-old child told her that his “daddy stabbed mommy with a sword.” The child also told the technician that his mother had died. The technician and the police officer also gave the children crayons and markers to draw with, and the child drew a “huge sword” next to his mother laying down, covered in red, the technician testified.
Ansonia police Detective Kristen Hunt was the second witness to take the stand Wednesday. She recalled how she and other police officers executed a search warrant on Zielinski’s person, to collect swabs for DNA and biological material.
When police were warning Zielinski that they would pull his hair to get a sample strand, and that it would hurt, he said, “It won’t hurt as much as getting hit in the head with an ax,” Hunt testified.
While Hunt was on the stand, the state played the 911 call of the incident. Hunt testified that investigators discovered the call was placed from Grace Zielinska’s phone.
During the call, a man’s voice could be heard telling the dispatcher that he “killed his wife” and to “please help her.” A child could be heard wailing in the background, repeatedly crying “mama.” Hunt and another officer spoke with Zielinski when he was in custody, mainly to ask about parents and other family members who potentially could take care of the couple’s children. State’s Attorney Margaret E. Kelley showed about 10 minutes of the interaction captured on Hunt’s body-worn camera. Between giving information to detectives about nearby family members, Zielinski breaks down crying and asks whether his wife is dead.
“What’s wrong with me?” Zielinski says at one point during the interaction. “Something’s in my head.” Zielinski told officers that he heard voices telling him to kill her. He said the voices also told him to stick his hand through her chest, and told him to eat her heart, the footage showed.
Hunt said she didn’t have the opportunity to interview Zielinski as he was brought to the hospital for a psychological evaluation.
The defense, before questioning Geysen, filed a motion for judgment of acquittal. Kelley objected to the motion, saying there was more than enough evidence showing the defendant intended to cause the death of his wife. She recalled Zielinska’s injuries, which included skull fractures, an exposed chest cavity and other wounds caused by a hatchet and a knife. After a brief recess, the panel ultimately and unanimously denied the motion.
The case went to trial after Zielinski rejected an offer to serve 45 years in prison on charges of murder and risk of injury to a minor. Zielinski was found competent to stand trial last year after two psychiatric examinations.
Zielinska’s killing prompted an outcry from domestic violence victims’ advocates, who pledged to review similar cases in the area to explore possible issues.
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I rlly don't get "insanity defenses". If that sort of thing IS taken into account, then, shouldn't an offender whose personality is so volatile and/or hyper-reactive that he can be "insane" at time X, but then back to "normal" like fifteen minutes later, be considered a more obvious menace to society? And therefore shouldn't that be an aggravating factor in sentencing?
In a similar vein, some courts actually reduce criminal charges and/or sentences if the perp committed the crime while drunk, high, rolling, or otherwise "under the influence".
This... When I read about this, I genuinely feel like I'm an anthropologist from another planet or another species, studying humans and their wacky ways from the outside—that's how abjectly ridiculous this seems to me, to reward the perp for having drunk or smoked or snorted himself out of his normal mind before criming. Wtf?
I'm completely unable to bend my basic common sense into any pretzel shape other than enhanced charges and stiffer sentences for crimes committed while intoxicated. Or maaaaaaybe possibly just disregarding that factor in a few special circumstances. But again, actually giving the guy in the dock a boost for it? Who ever thought that was a good idea (and, from a juridical standpoint, why is it allowed in the first place)?