A 39-year-old Penacook man accused of attempting to murder his twin sister by dousing her with gasoline and lighting her on fire is relying on an insanity defense.
Dwayne Crawford is scheduled to face a Merrimack County Superior Court judge on March 8 for a plea and sentencing hearing in the attempted murder case brought against him by Concord police more than two years ago. Court documents show that Crawford will likely enter into an agreement with county prosecutors at that time to plead not guilty by reason of insanity.
A state forensic examiner previously opinioned that Crawford was psychotic when police allege he tried to kill his twin sister, Tamika Crawford, in the early-morning hours of Dec. 15, 2016, also catching their home on Woodbine Avenue on fire. Tamika suffered severe burns that required her hospitalization in Boston.
Concord police Officer Brendan Ryder, who responded to the scene, wrote in a sworn affidavit that Crawford confessed to the crime, saying, “I did it, I lit her on fire.” Ryder said Crawford displayed “very little affect and expressed no emotion.”
Defense attorneys ordered an insanity evaluation soon after a judge found Crawford competent to stand trial for attempted murder, arson, first-degree assault, reckless conduct and criminal mischief.
The forensic examiner who performed the evaluation said Crawford’s actions that winter day were “the product of his psychosis,” public defender Aileen O’Connell wrote to the court. Psychosis is a mental or physical illness that can cause someone to lose touch with reality and hallucinate.
Crawford has continued to receive mental health treatment and counseling services at New Hampshire Hospital in Concord, where he was involuntarily committed in the months after his arrest. A district court judge ruled in February 2017 that Crawford was incompetent to stand trial but “potentially restorable,” leaving open the door for a future status review.
Should Crawford enter an insanity plea next month, he will be committed for five years to the secure psychiatric unit at the New Hampshire State Prison for Men in Concord unless a judge rules otherwise. If a psychiatric evaluation determines he does not continue to require the unit’s level of security and care, the state’s Department of Corrections may propose his transfer to a less restrictive facility like the state hospital, according to court documents.
Crawford was previously declared unfit to stand trial in an unrelated case in 2015. He was charged in December 2014 with simple assault and resisting arrest at his apartment at the time on Pitman Street in Concord, when police said he struggled with and attempted to fight officers responding to his home.
(Alyssa Dandrea can be reached at 369-3319 or at adandrea@cmonitor.com.)