The Buffalo man found “not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect” in an assault that ended up killing a fellow Erie County Medical Center psychiatric patient has been placed indefinitely in a state hospital in Rochester.
Garrett Smith, 23, will now be periodically examined by a psychiatrist,who will determine when and if Smith is well enough to leave the forensic unit at Rochester Psychiatric Center and re-enter society, officials in the case said Monday.
Today in State Supreme Court, a civil suit against ECMC is expected to take another step forward as the attorney for the estate of Michael Cullen seeks damages for his death.
Cullen, 54, of Lackawanna, was a patient in ECMC’s psychiatric ward when Smith began punching him in a March 31, 2010, dispute reportedly over who was in charge of a TV remote control.
Cullen, who was taking a blood thinner medication, had not received medical treatment after theattack that caused blood vessels in his brain to hemorrhage, authorities said.
Two days after the assault, he lapsed into a coma and died April 6, 2010.
Smith was charged with first-degree manslaughter, but two mental health examinations by psychiatrists for the defense and prosecution determined he suffered from mental illness at the time of the attack and was not criminally responsible for his actions.
Those findings were accepted by Erie County Judge Michael F. Pietruszka, and Smith was spared a criminal trial.
A second legal proceeding was then conducted for his placement, according to Erie County District Attorney Frank A. Sedita III.
“It was determined he was dangerously mentally ill,” Sedita said of why Smith resides in the secured forensic unit at Rochester Psychiatric Center, a state Office of Mental Health facility.
And while the criminal side of the case has been resolved, the civil lawsuit continues today with motions scheduled to be argued before State Supreme Court Justice John F. O’Donnell.
Attorney Robert Maranto of the Buffalo law firm of Andrews, Bernstein and Maranto is representing Cullen’s estate.
Thomas J. Quatroche, ECMC’s senior vice president for marketing and planning, said he could not comment on the case because it is in litigation.
In the past, ECMC officials have declined to comment on the death, except to say that they are regulated by the Office of Mental Health and comply with its guidelines in maintaining patient safety at the center’s psychiatric unit.

email: lmichel@buffnews.com