A three-judge panel has found a young man not guilty of killing his mother at their home in Orange, according to court officials.
Timothy Granata, 23, who was charged with the murder of his mother, Claudia, 58, at their house on Wild Rose Drive in July 2014, was placed on suicide watch and underwent a mental health evaluation in the months following his arrest.
He pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, according to court officials, and a three-judge panel has now found him not guilty of the crime because of a mental disease or deficit.
His attorney previously said Granata was a heavyweight wrestler during his freshman year at Lehigh University and might have taken time off from college to be hospitalized. He would not elaborate on the circumstances.
Granata will now return to Whiting Forensic Division of Connecticut Valley Hospital for additional evaluation, according to the clerk's office.
Police originally said Granata called 911 to report having killed someone the afternoon of July 24, 2014. Investigators arrived to find his mother beaten and stabbed to death. Granata was 22 years old at the time.
Granata's father, Dr. Attilio Granata, has taught at the Yale School of Medicine and practiced medicine at hospitals along the Connecticut shoreline.
U.S. & World
Attilio Granata and his wife, born Claudia Dinan, both graduated from the Yale School of Medicine, according to a 1984 wedding announcement in The New York Times.
Timothy Granata will return before the three-judge panel on Jan. 20 for further review of his status, the clerk's office said.
