Westport man accused of strangling infant son denied transfer to Bridgewater State Hospital for evaluation
Jo C. Goode | The Herald News
FALL RIVER — A Westport man accused of strangling his 2-month-old infant who is currently being held without bail was denied a transfer to a state mental health facility on Friday by a district court judge.
A dangerousness hearing that could keep him incarcerated for 120 days was continued until Tuesday.
Stephen Kegyes, 32, of Gifford Road, a former chef, was arrested and arraigned on Tuesday. The alleged assault on the infant, whom he and his husband were in the midst of adopting, occurred on Sunday. It was caught on a home surveillance tape.
Kegyes’s lawyer, Will Flanagan, did, however succeed in getting the video of the alleged incident impounded from public viewing for at least the next 90 days, which Bristol County Assistant District Attorney Kyle McPherson agreed to.
“If I did not ask that this video be impounded, I believe the broadcast would inflame and he would be found guilty in the court of public opinion,” said Flanagan in an interview later. “He deserves the opportunity for a fair trial.”
During the hearing, Flanagan said he’s been unable to communicate with Kegyes since he was taken into custody because of his mental state and that his client has not slept at all in the past seven days.
In court documents, Westport police reported disturbing video images of an allegedly agitated Kegyes holding a cellphone when he reached down to the infant who had been placed on a couch and placed his hand over the boy’s face, covering his nose and mouth.
Kegyes then is reported to have picked up the infant by the neck with his head dangling to the side about shoulder height then tossed him into the corner of the couch.
Flanagan told the judge that Kegyes has no memory of the incident.
Kegyes placed a 911 call and the baby was eventually taken to Boston Children’s Hospital with serious injuries. Police became aware of the alleged assault after receiving notification from hospital doctors and the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families.
Kegyes’ husband apparently found the video of the alleged attack on Monday and turned the recording into police.
A dangerousness hearing Friday morning was temporarily delayed after Flanagan requested and was granted that Kegyes be examined by a forensic psychologist.
In the afternoon in a remote telephone call patched into the courtroom, forensic psychologist Maryanne Galvin said in her interview with Kegyes, he indicated that the infant had been born in November and that he had been the primary caregiver to the baby since he was brought home from the hospital and that he was experiencing extreme sleep deprivation.
Mirroring what Flanagan told District Court Judge Robert Ovoian, she said Kegyes has no criminal record and no apparent psychological or addiction issues and indicated she believed he was fit to stand trial.
The forensic psychologist did recommend that Kegyes have further psychological evaluations, and that Kegyes be admitted to Bridgewater State Hospital, which Ovoian denied.
Flanagan said it's important to focus on “the cause of these allegations and the Constitutional defenses my client has.”
He said he’ll recommend at the dangerousness hearing that Kegyes be transferred to an alternative facility that is able to focus on his mental health and evaluation for treatment, none of which he’s currently receiving at the Bristol County House of Corrections.
During the two hearings, seven of Kegyes’s family member were present, and he kept looking at each member during the proceedings.
As he was being taken out of the courtroom, a woman in the front row who appeared to be his mother, shouted, “We love you, Stephen.”
Flanagan said Kegyes’s husband did not attend the hearings.
Email Jo C. Goode at jgoode@heraldnews.com