City group home murder of Zachary March prompts lawsuit

By BEA LEWIS, for THE LACONIA DAILY SUN

CONCORD — The family of a man murdered in Laconia in 2013 has filed a civil suit claiming that the New Hampshire State Hospital has a duty to keep his killer institutionalized.

Zachary March, 27, who lived at an unsupervised support home for those coping with mental illness at 24 McGrath St., was strangled by his roommate, Kasey Riley, 21, on June 11, 2013.

Riley was indicted on alternate theories of second-degree murder, but the charges were dismissed after he was found incompetent. A court subsequently ruled that he was dangerous, and ordered him civilly committed.

"This was an injustice for both families. Kasey didn't get the treatment he needed and, as a result, the Marches lost their son," said attorney Cristina Rousseau.

During a hearing in Merrimack County Superior Court on Monday, Rousseau argued that an improper medical decision resulted in Riley being released from the State Hospital and that it was foreseeable that he posed a danger to the public. March was killed less than 24 hours after Riley's release.

The lawsuit, filed in May, also names Lakes Region Mental Health Center Inc., doing business as Genesis Behavioral Health, as a defendant.

Rousseau claims both the State Hospital and Genesis were aware of Riley's propensity for violence and as a result had a duty to warn the public.

Riley had gone to the emergency room at Lakes Region General Hospital and reported being "restless" and asked that he be placed in restraints. When a security officer was complying with the request, Rousseau said, Riley attacked the man and threatened to kill him.

That incident prompted an involuntary emergency admission to the New Hampshire State Hospital. Rousseau told a judge that Riley disclosed that he was homicidal and that he was abusing hallucinogenic drugs and alcohol.

After identifying Riley's substance abuse as a trigger for his homicidal ideas, and despite Riley's statements that he would not stop using, he was discharged and put on a bus back to the McGrath Street home run by Genesis, she said.

Rousseau claims Riley was released without any medication, and sent back to the Laconia facility on a weekend when there was no staff on duty to dispense prescriptions. Riley called his sister to ask for a ride to go to the drug store to get his medication and was acting so out of character that she called the State Hospital and begged that he not be released.

Staff, citing HIPAA regulations, would not even confirm whether Riley had been there.

Assistant Attorney General Ken Sansone argued that the State Hospital had no duty to protect March or others from Riley's potential acts. State law only mandates that doctors or mental health professionals have a duty to warn if a patient threatens to harm a specific person or group of individuals.

Rousseau told Judge Richard McNamara that the plaintiff's claims are similar to a medical malpractice case asserting that it was an improper medical decision to release Riley back to Genesis when hospital staff knew that facility was unable to give him the care that he needed.

"The decision to release him is a medical decision, not a policy decision and that state doesn't have immunity," she asserted.

Sansone told the judge that the state is shielded by both official immunity and discretionary function immunity as there were no claims that any state employee's actions were wanton or reckless in regards to the treatment they provided to Riley in the course of the duties of their job.

If the court were to find the hospital did have a duty to somehow protect March, the state claimed such a ruling would have a chilling effect on the decision-making process which mental health professionals must make in cases such as this.

Riley told police that March became upset because he was watching hunting videos on his cell phone which March thought were both gory and cruel. The pair allegedly struggled over possession of the phone and Riley claimed that March attempted to stab him with an ink pen. Riley admitted to using wrestling holds on March as the pair grappled on the floor and eventually ended up squeezing March's head between his legs until he became unresponsive.

After being unable to rouse March by dousing him with water, Riley told investigators he sought help from a female resident of the McGrath Street home. She in turn called for an ambulance, which summoned police.

March sustained a fractured larynx and the state medical examiner ruled his death a homicide.

Kasey Riley, who was charged with second-degree murder for strangling his roommate at a McGrath Street, Laconia, home run by Genesis Behavioral Health was declared incompetent to stand trial and has since been civilly committed. His victim's family has filed a lawsuit against the New Hampshire State Hospital and Genesis. (Bea Lewis/ File Photo For The Laconia Daily Sun)