COMMISSIONER CALLS FOR LEGISLATION TO PROTECT NEIGHBORHOODS FROM MURDERESS
In Response Senator Kyrillos and Assemblyman Kean Sponsor Legislation That Requires Notification of Law Enforcement When Criminally Insane Visit Community

Today, joined by Senator Joseph Kyrillos (R-13) and Assemblyman Sean Kean (R-11) Monmouth Beach Commissioner Kim Guadagno called for the State to adopt legislation that would notify law enforcement that a criminally insane person had moved into their jurisdiction.

“Parole Officers routinely give notice to police chiefs if a felon on parole moves into their jurisdiction, incredibly, such notice is not required for the furlough of a violent offender who is adjudged criminally insane. Those offenders pose just as much a threat as a convicted felon,” said Commissioner Kim Guadagno.

Guadagno continued, “We must give law enforcement officials this important notification to protect our communities. Why wait until we have a Meghan Kanka type death to fill the gap? This legislation should be passed by the State Assembly and Senate during the next session.”

Commissioner Guadagno became aware of this omission in the law after she received a phone call from a resident who was concerned that she had not been notified that a murderer, who was adjudged not guilty by reason of insanity, had purchased the house next door. The resident accidentally found out about the conviction, but not until after the resident’s six-year-old child had befriended the caretaker of the home.

The resident, [whose name is being withheld to protect her son] was mystified. “When someone can leave a mental institution on a day pass, buy a house, and have access to a then six-year-old child, we should all be terribly afraid.”

The murderer is often released on furlough to her Monmouth Beach home on weekends. The patient, Dr. Kathleen Hagen, smothered her elderly parents as they slept. Hagen was declared innocent by reason of insanity in January 2002.

Upon learning of this situation, Guadagno contacted the chief of police in Monmouth Beach. The chief had not been notified by authorities of the presence of a criminally insane murderer in town. Commissioner Guadagno called Assemblyman Sean Kean and asked him to draft legislation that would require state psychiatric hospitals to notify local law enforcement officials when violent offenders were released into a community.

The legislation is being sponsored by Assemblyman Sean Kean in the Assembly and Senator Joseph Kyrillos and Senator Joe Palaia in the Senate.

“It has to be very shocking and disconcerting to learn that your neighbor is criminally insane,” said Senator Joseph Kyrillos. “However, it would be much more reassuring if law enforcement was properly notified of the individual’s whereabouts and cognizant that they are in the community.”

Assemblyman Kean remarked, “Local law enforcement should definitely be alerted when a potential danger to the community, especially someone who has committed murder, is staying in town. It does not make sense to allow the criminally insane to come and go as they please without informing the authorities.”

“We should not have to rely on gossip and news reports to protect our residents. The Kean/Kyrillos legislation will require notification of local law enforcement by the psychiatric hospital before a criminally insane person can be furloughed into a community,” said Guadagno. “This new legislation will protect our communities and also the patient by letting local law enforcement make informed decisions about how to respond to potential threats in our communities.”

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