POLMATIER V. RUSS
537 A.2d 468 (1988)
NATURE OF THE CASE: Russ (D) appealed a decision of the Superior Court, which rendered
judgment for Polmatier (P), executrix, in her action against to recover damages for the
wrongful death of her husband. D was charged with the decedent's murder pursuant to Conn.
Gen. Stat. 53a-54a(a), but was found not guilty by reason of insanity pursuant to Conn.
Gen. Stat. 53a-13.
FACTS: D and his two-month old daughter visited the home of Arthur Polmatier, his
father-in-law. Polmatier lived in East Windsor with his wife, P, and their eleven-year-old
son, Robert. During the early evening Robert noticed a disturbance in the living room where
he saw D astride Polmatier on a couch beating him on the head with a beer bottle. Robert ran
to get help. D then went into Polmatier's bedroom where he took a box of 30-30 caliber
ammunition from the bottom drawer of a dresser and went to his brother-in-law's bedroom
where he took a 30-30 caliber Winchester rifle from the closet. D then returned to the
living room and shot Polmatier twice, causing his death. D was found sitting on a stump in a
wooded area a half mile from the Polmatier home. D was naked and his daughter was in his
arms wrapped in his clothes, and was crying. Blood was found on his clothes, and he had the
Winchester rifle, later determined to be the murder weapon. D was charged with the crime of
murder. D was found not guilty by reason of insanity. D was suffering from a severe case of
paranoid schizophrenia that involved delusions of persecution, grandeur, influence and
reference, and also involved auditory hallucinations. P sued D for wrongful death. D filed
an answer denying all material allegations asserting that he was non compos mentis at the
time of the alleged assault and, therefore, not capable of forming the intent necessary for
tort liability. The court found for P and awarded compensatory damages. D appealed.
ISSUE:
RULE OF LAW:
HOLDING AND DECISION:
LEGAL ANALYSIS:
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