Portland man found not criminally responsible for death of Granny's Burritos founder
Feb. 4—A Portland man was found not criminally responsible by reason of insanity for killing his neighbor two years ago.
There was no dispute that Jonathan Alas, 29, stabbed Christopher Godin to death in their Cumberland Avenue apartment building the night of Feb. 17, 2023. But two mental health experts and a judge agreed Tuesday that Alas was suffering from serious mental illness that impaired his ability to "fully appreciate the wrongfulness" of his actions.
Superior Court Justice Deborah Cashman's ruling means there will be no trial and Alas' criminal case is now closed.
Cashman committed Alas to the care of the Department of Health and Human Services, which will decide where to place Alas and what his treatment should be. That could be the Riverview Psychiatric Center in Augusta, a state-run hospital that receives court-ordered patients.
Alas will only be released through a "heavily involved" legal process, Cashman said, in which it's his burden to prove he has improved.
At the time of Godin's death, Alas had just been released from state prison with a prescription for antipsychotics, but a forensic psychologist told the court Alas was not taking his full dosage.
A family member said after Tuesday's hearing that they had pleaded with probation officers to make sure Alas was medicated — especially because prison staff, who had diagnosed him with bipolar disorder, already had observed Alas' behavior worsen when he was untreated.
Godin's family said in court that it was Alas who decided not to take his medication, and that he's skirting responsibility for what happened. They also felt failed by the system tasked with overseeing Alas.
"We always hear about the signs after the fact," Godin's niece Kristen Johnson said in court. "When is enough, enough?"
A DEVOTED FATHER
Godin's family told Cashman about their grief and loss, knowing that a good man — who everyone agreed did nothing to incite Alas' attack — was killed.
Godin was known for founding Granny's Burritos in Portland's Old Port. Several friends who shared his love for music, nightlife and food have described Godin as a "peace-loving hippie." He was also a devoted father who kept photos of his kids all over his home, family said, and would some times put out cookies in his apartment hallway to share with neighbors.
Susannah Harnden said she and Godin co-parented their two children, both adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and that Godin was "phenomenal" with them. For their daughter, "he was the only one who could reason with her and reach her," Harden said.
She still has to remind their son that Godin is dead. He is fully dependent on her with Godin gone, she said, and she struggles with the loneliness of losing the one person who would understand what that's like.
"If something happens to me, it's terrifying," Harnden said in court. "I never thought I would be doing this alone. ... I don't think I'll ever be able to get over it."
FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGIST TESTIFIES
Godin and Alas lived at 263 Cumberland Ave., where police found Godin by the apartment's main entrance dead with multiple stab wounds the evening of Feb. 17, 2023. At least two witnesses helped identify Alas as the killer, said police, who quickly found Alas down the hall with a wound to his chest.
Peter Donnelly, a forensic psychologist who met with Alas three times after his arrest, said Alas had also stabbed himself.
Donnelly said Alas told him he was experiencing auditory hallucinations that day — demonic voices telling him to kill himself. He thought he could hear someone hitting his wall, Donnelly said, while the voices were coming from the hall, growing louder and more threatening.
In reality, it was only Godin outside.
Donnelly said Alas "recognized that there was stabbing going on," but that Alas couldn't recall other details, including one neighbor telling him to stop.
"He was not able to appraise his environment realistically," Donnelly said, suggesting Alas was only trying to protect himself from what he didn't realize were delusions.
Prosecutors for the state said they could not refute Alas' defense.
BIPOLAR MEDICATION
Alas had a "fairly good childhood," Donnelly said. A family member, who asked not to be identified, said Alas performed well in high school and graduated college with a degree in biology in 2018. He was active in sports, the relative said, and was interested in becoming a doctor.
It wasn't until Alas' second year in college that his family noticed a clear change in his personality. He was more paranoid and had attempted suicide. Donnelly mentioned some relatives were concerned about previous concussions.
Alas went to Spring Harbor, a behavior health center in Westbrook, for treatment around 2020. He was later sentenced to prison for assault and unlawful sexual contact. Police say he tried forcing himself onto a woman at the hospital.
He was prescribed antipsychotic medication for bipolar disorder at Mountain View Correctional Facility, Donnelly said. The medication helped reduce the voices. But untreated, Alas continued to have psychotic episodes, including an incident where he tried escaping the facility and cut himself on the barbed wire.
"His words were, he wasn't trying to escape anything," Donnelly said, "he just wanted to see how far he could push himself."
Family were limited with what they could do for Alas when he was released on probation. Alas was on a sex offender registry because of the assault at Spring Harbor, and wasn't allowed to live in their neighborhood.
So it was frustrating when Alas' family tried to alert his probation officer that something was off in early 2023, the relative said. His family tried calling probation several times and got no answer. Alas' medication wasn't a condition of his release from custody.
Godin's family said the judge's decision was like being denied an opportunity to get some form of justice.
"Jonathan didn't kill any voice in his head," said Godin's niece Kerry Tibbetts. "He killed a human being ... and his name was Christopher Godin."
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