The release of Tyree Smith, a murderer and cannibal, to a group home should outrage everyone. In 2011, Smith savagely murdered and ate Angel Gonzalez in Bridgeport. In 2013, Smith was sentenced to up to 60 years at Whiting Forensic Hospital. In 2025, just 12 years after his sentencing, Smith was granted conditional release by the Psychiatric Review Board. The absurdity of this has garnered national attention and justified outrage. It seems like something you would only read in fiction by Thomas Harris. Even the lead detective in the infamous Jeffrey Dahmer case has warned that Smith’s violent tendencies are still there and that he should never be released.
In light of this ongoing case, I proposed HB 6932. This legislation would require the Psychiatric Review Board to consider the protection of society and public safety as its primary concern and require the Board to apply the burden of proof of ‘clear and convincing evidence’ when evaluating a request for less restrictive placement. It is clear that the Board put Smith’s well-being above the public’s and they aren’t even required to notify the neighbors that a cannibal moved in next door. This is indefensible.
To anyone who defends this, I ask, where is Angel Gonzalez’s justice? Where is his family’s justice? Angel Gonzalez was poor and homeless and I worry that affected the judgment of the review board and how this case was handled. Angel’s life mattered just as much as anyone else’s and he did not deserve to die at the hands of a cold-blooded killer. People loved Angel Gonzalez and his family pleaded with the Review Board not to release Smith. Their pleas – and Gonzalez’s memory – were callously ignored in favor of the welfare of a violent psychopath who won’t reoffend so long as he takes his meds. That’s reassuring.
Mentally unwell people deserve help, but there must be limitations when there are instances as brutal as this one. Public safety outweighs Smith’s freedom. This all sets a dangerous precedent – and one we have seen all too much of in Connecticut – where murderers and violent offenders are given compassion while the victims and their families are not. It’s a travesty of justice. Governor Lamont and the Connecticut legislature owe it to victims, including Angel Gonzalez, to change the law and adopt my common sense legislation.
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State Rep. Devin Carney, a Republican, represents Lyme, Old Lyme, Old Saybrook and part of Westbrook