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Suspect in Mass. General attack found competent for trial

E-mail|Link|Comments () November 16, 2009 03:42 PM

By John R. Ellement Globe Staff

A Level 3 sex offender accused of trying to rape a woman inside Massachusetts General Hospital was found competent to stand trial today after a 20-day evaluation at a state psychiatric facility.

David Flavell

David Flavell had been sent for evaluation at Bridgewater State Hospital after the 40-year-old homeless man told his lawyer that he believed he was on a spaceship, not on Earth.

Flavell appeared today in Boston Municipal Court, where Judge Edward Redd ruled that he was competent to stand trial. Flavell will be held without bail at the Nashua Street Jail pending a dangerousness hearing as early as next week.

Flavell is accused of grabbing a 27-year-old female hospital employee inside a restroom on Oct. 22, beating her head against the floor, and ripping her pants. The woman, whose job was not identified by authorities, fought off her attacker, but had a bloody face afterward. She was treated and released.

In 2006 and in 2009, prosecutors in Bristol and Norfolk counties tried to have Flavell civilly committed to the Massachusetts Treatment Center for the sexually dangerous.

But after separate trials, two Superior Court judges concluded the evidence was not strong enough to warrant the commitment, which lasts from one day to life.

Flavell has been sent to psychiatric hospitals at least five other times, including two earlier commitments to Bridgewater State Hospital, Eudy said.

He has been diagnosed as suffering from major depression and bipolar disorder. But since his release from state custody in the past few weeks, he has not been taking medications to control his mental illnesses.

Speaking outside the courtroom last month, Flavell's lawyer, Neil Madden of Dorchester, said his client continues to wrestle with personal demons that have haunted him for decades.

Flavell told his lawyer: "I don't feel like I'm on Earth. I feel like I'm in a spaceship somewhere."

Madden said his client had no memory of the Oct. 22 assault at Mass. General, in part because he drank a large quantity of rum.

"He doesn't seem to have a good comprehension of what happened," Madden said. "Whether that's because of the alcohol or what's going in his head, I don't know."