Competency evaluation under way in attempted murder case

A Gales Ferry man accused of stabbing his wife last month because he was distraught about his continued unemployment is being evaluated to determine whether he is competent to stand trial.

A state forensics team will determine whether Jeffrey A. Asbill is competent to stand trial, and he will return to court on Dec. 23. Meanwhile, Asbill is prohibited from having contact with his wife, who has been telling friends Asbill was trying to kill himself, not hurt her, in the Nov. 16 incident at their Brewster Drive home.

Asbill, 49, appeared in court Wednesday wearing a green prison jumpsuit and accompanied by two correction officers. His wife, Cuijuan "Joanne" Cai, sat in the audience, listening to the proceeding with help from an interpreter of Mandarin Chinese and a friend who identified herself as a reverend. Cai has been unable to visit her husband since the incident and requested a visit through Asbill's attorney, Kevin C. Barrs. The judge denied the request and reminded the wife that the charges against Asbill are "very serious."

"This is an attempted murder case," said Judge Susan B. Handy. "As in any case like this, there will be no contact between the defendant and the victim."

Handy said she could revisit the request when she gets a better handle on the case.

Ledyard police charged Asbill with attempted murder and first-degree assault. They said the wife suffered a suffered a stab wound in the upper left area of her chest, a punctured lung and lacerations to her left hand, and that Asbill provided an audio- and videotaped confession in which he admitted to stabbing his wife with a hunting knife. The wife told police her husband had been admitted to Yale-New Haven Hospital for depression and was distraught because he had lost his job at Pfizer Inc. and was convinced he could no longer provide for his family.

Asbill, a biochemist, had worked for Pfizer since 1998, starting in Ann Arbor, Mich., and later moving to Groton, according to former colleagues. He was laid off from the Groton facility in December 2008, 18 months after he and his family relocated to Connecticut.

Former colleagues have been attempting to help Joanne Cai and have been writing letters of support to court officials. Laura Fleischer, a University of Michigan researcher who said she worked beside Asbill for years at Pfizer in Ann Arbor, said he is the "kindest and gentlest person she's ever known."

"This is like saying Santa Claus did this," she said.

Fleischer said their "boss" at Pfizer, who was Chinese, introduced Asbill, who is Caucasian, to Cai, and that the couple has been married for five years. They have a young son, and other family members live with them in Gales Ferry.

Fleischer said that Asbill was hospitalized at Yale for depression, but checked himself out early after learning he had an interview opportunity.

"He was distraught because he couldn't remember things he needed for the interview," she said.

k.florin@theday.com