Accused cabdriver killer enters plea

BANGOR – The attorney appointed to represent the man police say beat to death a Bangor taxi driver last month began laying the groundwork Thursday for an insanity defense.

Meanwhile, Carl Wayne Heath remains in Penobscot County Jail without bail.

Todd Crawford Jr. of Bridgton was appointed by Justice Joseph Jabar to represent Heath, 20, the Fryeburg man accused of killing 60-year-old Donna Leen.

On Thursday, one day after being returned to Maine from New Jersey, Heath appeared in Penobscot County Superior Court, where he entered pleas of not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity to 10 charges connected to his activities the day before and the day of Leen’s murder.

Leen’s badly beaten body was found Sunday, Oct. 15, inside her taxicab that had been abandoned in the middle of a field in Corinth. Investigators say she had been beaten with a hammer, which was recovered at the scene.

The last time anyone heard from Leen was Saturday, Oct. 14, when she radioed her dispatcher that she had picked up a fare from a construction site on Stillwater Avenue in Bangor and was taking him to Glenburn.

Her body was found the next day.

Heath is accused of stealing a car from a home in nearby Charleston and then fleeing the state. He was arrested three days later after a routine traffic stop on a New Jersey highway.

He was held in New Jersey until Wednesday when Maine State Police detectives returned him to Maine.

Crawford, who has represented Heath on burglary charges in Oxford County, asked the judge Thursday to appoint another lawyer to serve as co-counsel on the case, because Crawford is in the U.S. Army Reserves and could be called to active duty.

Also on Thursday, Crawford requested $2,700 to pay for psychological evaluations of Heath and also for a private investigator to investigate the case for the defense.

“Carl claims that a severe mental disease, defect or disorder has diminished his capacity to appreciate at the time of its occurrence the wrongfulness of his conduct,” Crawford wrote in a motion for funds.

Heath’s mental condition “may have rendered [him] completely incompetent or with diminished capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct,” Crawford stated.

On Thursday, Crawford noted that Heath suffered from auditory and visual hallucinations of the “command” type.

“[Heath] claims to have been a ward of the state since age 8 and has undergone numerous psychiatric hospitalizations and 120 foster home placements,” Crawford said.

As of Thursday afternoon, Justice Jabar had not indicated whether he would approve Crawford’s motions for co-counsel and for funds for a private investigator and psychological evaluations, though such motions normally are granted in the case of indigent defendants.