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AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — A Kennebec County judge has rejected a convicted murderer's request to participate in supervised activities away from Augusta's Riverview Psychiatric Center.
The Kennebec Journal reports (http://bit.ly/2b3nqyg ) Justice Donald Marden turned down the petition from Mark Gessner on Tuesday, citing the 52-year-old's "toxic combination" of severe personality characteristics and major mental illness.
Gessner was convicted of murdering Bath florist Melvin Henderson in 1994. He's been held at the psychiatric center since the conclusion of his sentence earlier this year.
In his decision, Marden also noted that Gessner was diagnosed with several mental illnesses in 1993 but he refuses medication and doesn't agree that he's mentally ill.
State Forensic Service director Ann LeBlanc testified against Gessner's petition, saying the forensic department is unsure how he'd do in an environment different from prison.
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Information from: Kennebec Journal, http://www.kjonline.com/
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