25 Investigates

Dozens of criminally insane released in Mass. without guaranteed supervision

SPECIAL REPORT

(

) -- They've committed heinous crimes, but they're not locked up in prison. Some defendants end up in hospitals after being found not guilty by reason of insanity.

Treatment for mental illness has resulted in dozens of people being released back into the community in Massachusetts. When someone is found not guilty by reason of insanity, they either go to Bridgewater State Hospital or a public or private psychiatric hospital.

FOX Undercover obtained records from the Department of Correction and the Department of Mental Health which show the majority of people committed are ultimately released and they may not remain under supervision.

DOC records reveal more than 60 men have been committed to Bridgewater since 2004 after being found not guilty by reason of insanity. 77% of them have been released after committing crimes including murder, attempted murder, stalking, and arson.

Department of Mental Health records show since 2004, 162 men and women have been committed after being found not guilty by reason of insanity. 85% are back in the community.

DMH would not release the crimes they were charged with, only saying they range from minor to serious.

“In Massachusetts the insanity defense is really the lack of criminal responsibility,” said former prosecutor and practicing defense attorney David Yannetti who believes the insanity defense is easier to use in Massachusetts than in other states because the government has to prove the person is not insane. “In other states the burden of proof is actually on the defendant to prove that he's ‘insane'. In Massachusetts, once the defense raises that defense, the burden of proof is on the government to prove it beyond a reasonable doubt.

The government in Massachusetts failed to meet that burden in 2009 when Angela Vasquez was found not guilty by reason of insanity.

Vasquez was charged with murdering her 10 and 13-year-old children after their decomposing bodies were discovered in their Roslindale home in 2007.

After the verdict, Vasquez was hospitalized. Today she's a free woman.

“If I speak through the lens of mental health and the philosophy of mental health, then it is that every person should have an opportunity to change,” said psychotherapist Dr. Karen Ruskin. “If I speak through the lens of myself as a therapist, I like many people have my concerns because that is an extreme act.”

FOX Undercover found Vasquez working in a public area at Faulkner Hospital in Boston, interacting with people at the information desk.

The children's father, Dennis Burgos, is disturbed the mother of his children is free.

"She's out there living the life and my kids don't have that because of what she did,” said Burgos. “She's out there in the hospital working. It's crazy, crazy."

Through her attorney, Vasquez declined to talk with FOX Undercover and her attorney also did not want to discuss her client.

Faulkner Hospital issued this statement attributed to hospital president Dr. Michael Gustafson: "We have a long-standing commitment to caring for people who suffer from mental illness and will continue to support Ms. Vasquez in her recovery."

Despite the figures obtained by FOX Undercover, attorney Yannetti says successful insanity defenses are rare.

“Unless there is something compelling, my experience has been that jurors are reluctant to “let someone off the hook” where it's clear they did the acts that constitute the crime,” said Yannetti.

Dr. Ruskin believes people must be monitored when they are released back into the community, but that's not necessarily happening.

People being released are set up with a voluntary treatment plan, but DMH says there's no follow-up to make sure they're complying because these people have not been convicted of a crime.

The Suffolk County District Attorney's office says it argued against releasing Angela Vasquez, but she was set free anyway.