CHELSEA — Plans to hold competency hearings for two Orange County residents accused in separate murder cases have been delayed for a few weeks as court officials work out logistics in the COVID-19 pandemic.
A competency hearing in Orange Superior Court for Randolph resident Victoria Griffin, who is charged with second-degree murder in the stabbing death of her boyfriend Concepcion Cruz in December, was postponed on Wednesday after she didn’t appear via video from the prison where she is being held without bail. Corrections officials said a technology problem was to blame.
Because of the pandemic, Vermont defendants who are incarcerated are generally participating remotely, rather than being transported to courthouses around the state.
Griffin, 30, and her attorney filed a motion with the court six days after Cruz’ Dec. 12, 2020, death seeking a psychiatric evaluation to determine whether Griffin is mentally competent to stand trial.
The sealed evaluation was filed in March, and when Griffin did not appear on the video conference call at the appointed time Wednesday morning, Judge Thomas Zonay ordered the hearing to be “reset” in “two to three weeks” so the necessary arrangements could be made to connect Griffin from the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility, where she is incarcerated.
Department of Corrections spokeswoman Rachel Feldman said officials at the facility had Griffin “ready for the court appearance, and there appeared to be a technological error.”
“We are uncertain if this was on the court’s end or our end,” Feldman said via email on Thursday. “These types of errors are infrequent, and our staff are trained in how to connect with the courts.”
During the hearing Wednesday, Griffin’s attorney, Michael Shane, said he had “visited with her on Monday, and she was aware this was scheduled and she was trying to get a meeting with her caseworker.”
Zonay directed the court clerk to coordinate with the correctional facility to ensure that Griffin can participate at the rescheduled time.
Griffin, who has pleaded not guilty, told police that she had become embroiled in a heated argument with Cruz and she threatened to stab him if he didn’t leave the apartment, according to an affidavit in December from a Vermont State Police sergeant.
The argument became physical and Griffin told police she “blacked out,” and when she regained awareness, Cruz was lying on the floor and she was holding two steak knife handles that were missing their blades, according to the affidavit.
Griffin also told police after her arrest that she suffers from manic depression and has been in and out of treatment for several years, according to the affidavit.
Earlier Wednesday, Shane, who is also the attorney for Newbury, Vt., resident James D. Perry Jr., said at a status conference in the Chelsea court that his client suffers from hearing loss and would be “very uncomfortable” not being able to be in-person with an attorney during a competency hearing in his case.
The 70-year-old Perry pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree murder, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and reckless endangerment in May after police said he shot and killed his 38-year-old daughter, Karina Rheaume, when she came to his rural home to check on him and bring him food.
A sealed psychiatric evaluation of Perry was filed in early July, and the parties in the case are trying to arrange a competency hearing. An initial competency hearing in early August had to be scrapped, also because of technical issues.
Perry is being held in the Southern State Correctional Facility in Springfield, Vt., but his attorney on Wednesday said Perry, given his hearing problems, would like to be physically present for the hearing.
Orange County State’s Attorney Dickson Corbett said he had no objection to a hearing with Perry there in person, and Zonay indicated that the court would make arrangements for such a hearing to take place.
Chief Superior Judge Brian Grearson said in a phone interview Thursday that Vermont courts are trying to accommodate incarcerated defendants who want to be in court for their hearings but that many had also been put off by the prospect of having to quarantine when they returned to jail after the court appearance.
Feldman, the DOC spokeswoman, said 80.1% of incarcerated people in Vermont and in one out-of-state correctional facility are now vaccinated. She said the department halted requirements that vaccinated inmates quarantine after a medical or court trip on June 21.
Asked about the apparent technology problem that prompted the cancellation of Perry’s hearing in early August, Grearson, who was not familiar with the specifics of the case, said, “Obviously, we don’t want those circumstances to impact the person’s case, but sometimes they do.
“It’s not an excuse. The pandemic has really created a different environment … to work in.”
Shane, the defense attorney, said delays because of technical glitches had occurred in some cases but that “forensic evaluations” such as those required to determine if a defendant is competent to stand trial are also “hard to come by these days.”
“Many of the evaluators have retired and not been replaced. We have a shortage now,” Shane said via email.
John Gregg can be reached at jgregg@vnews.com. John Lippman can be reached at jlippman@vnews.com.
