Prosecutor holds results on Wesleyan suspect exam

MIDDLETOWN, Conn. – A Connecticut prosecutor on Tuesday declined to release the results of a recently completed psychiatric examination of a man charged with killing a Wesleyan University student.

Middlesex State's Attorney Timothy Liston wouldn't discuss the evaluation of Stephen Morgan after Morgan made a brief appearance in Middletown Superior Court. A judge continued the case to Oct. 13.

Morgan, 31, of Marblehead, Mass., is charged with murder in the shooting death of 21-year-old Johanna Justin-Jinich of Timnath, Colo., at a bookstore café near the Middletown campus in May 2009. His lawyers have filed court papers saying they will pursue a defense of mental disease or defect.

Despite the expected defense, Morgan's lawyer, Richard Brown, said Tuesday that his client was competent to stand trial. Brown said he and Morgan are deciding whether to try the case before a jury or a three-judge panel, and he expects the trial to begin within the next few months.

Authorities say Justin-Jinich and Morgan knew each other since at least 2007 when they attended New York University and she filed a harassment complaint against him. Morgan wasn't charged in that case.

The shooting stunned and frightened the Wesleyan community. After the killing but before Morgan surrendered the day after, police announced they found a journal that spelled out Morgan's plans to kill Justin-Jinich and go on a campus shooting spree targeting Jews. Justin-Jinich's family is Jewish and her grandmother was a Holocaust survivor.

Morgan's remarks prompted Wesleyan officials and police to lock down the campus.