[naviga:img class="img-responsive" src="/Assets/news2015/Chattin-Alec.jpg" alt="Alec Chattin"/]

Alec Chattin

Twenty-year-old Alec Chattin of Ledyard, diagnosed mentally ill at a young age, became increasingly isolated and fearful after he stopped taking his medication and failed out of college, according to a psychologist who testified Monday at Chattin's insanity trial in New London Superior Court.

His unmedicated illness resulted in a psychotic break during which he stabbed his mother in her bedroom at their 24 Country Club Drive home in Ledyard in January 2016 after unsuccessfully attempting to shoot her, according to clinical psychologist Leslie M. Lothstein.  

His mental illness had taken over, Lothstein said, and he could not control his impulses.

"He was acting on fantasies and internal voices," Lothstein said. 

Chattin had no history of aggressive tendencies, Lothestin testified, and unlike Adam Lanza, who killed his mother in her bed and went on a homicidal rampage at the Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown in December 2012, Lothstein said "there was never any indication he was involved in any internal sadistic fantasies."

Following his testimony, Judge Hillary B. Strackbein, who had listened last week to testimony from the victim and police, committed Chattin to Connecticut Valley Hospital. She ruled Chattin had committed the crimes against Brenda Chattin but was not guilty of attempted first-degree assault and second-degree assault due to a mental disease or defect that rendered him unable to appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct or to control his conduct.

Chattin, who after the incident asked his mother for a hug, called 911 at her request and surrendered peacefully to police, has been held at the Manson Youth Institution in Cheshire while his case was pending. Having successfully used the insanity defense, he will be evaluated at the state hospital's Whiting Forensic Division and will return to court for sentencing on Jan. 26.

During Monday's hearing, Chattin sat calmly at the defense table. Earlier, he had waved to his father, John Chattin, who he could see in the courtroom from the lockup holding area. As a judicial marshal led him into court, Chattin smiled at his mother, who last week had contact with her son for the first time since the assault. Brenda Chattin testified last week that in the attack, her son severed the main tendon to her index finger, slashed her ear from top to bottom and cut her left side and arm.

His attorney, Public Defender Kevin C. Barrs, had notified the court earlier this year that he would be pursuing the insanity defense. Prosecutor Stephen M. Carney did not contest the defense.

Lothstein said that in early childhood, Chattin had been diagnosed with a several conditions, including Asperger's disorder, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Sensory Integration Disorder and anxiety disorder. In his opinion, Lothstein said, the diagnosis that explains Chattin's actions on Jan. 25, 2016, is "a neuro-developmental disorder" that started in childhood and for which Chattin had stopped taking his medication.  

The psychologist's report documents a lifetime of struggle for the young man, who is bright but often depressed and unable to connect with his peers. He started speaking on time, but by age 4 was exhibiting characteristics of those on the autism spectrum, including "body cocking, head banging and power rocking," according to the report. He would walk around the mall with his fingers in his ears and had a photographic memory.

He spent most of his second-grade year sitting under the desk and making statements such as, "I want to be a rock ... rocks don't feel," according to the report. That year, he was diagnosed with depression and placed on medication.

In fifth grade, he was diagnosed with Asperger's disorder, and was put in the special education program in Ledyard Public Schools, the report indicates.  

At home, he was not beaten by his parents, but said his father gave him slaps and spankings and that he was whipped once with a belt, according to the report.

He had trouble making friends, though in his teen-age years he had girlfriends for whom he felt protective but had trouble understanding, the report said.

Chattin's parents were divorced and he lived alone with his mother at the time of the incident. The family had in the home "a lot of weapons, including a gun rack with rifles and German pistols (Lugers) and weapons Chattin and his father had used in re-enacting WWII events with the father-son duo playing Nazis," according to the report.

 There were also multiple martial arts weapons, belts from Karate classes and a framed Smith & Wesson poster.

"This was not a good safety plan, and it is unknown why the parents were not more active in securing the guns and ammunition," the report said.

Chattin, who kept a rifle and handgun under his bed, said he had a lot of fear and wanted them for self-protection, according to the report. He also had a large collection of knives but no machetes or swords, according to the report. Chattin had tried to shoot his mother with the .22-caliber rifle, but even though there was a round of ammunition in the gun's chamber, it did not fire because of a safety feature that requires a magazine to be in the gun for it to function, according to testimony. He then used a Cold Steel knife to stab her multiple times and choked her, according to testimony.

The report indicates that Chattin never seemed violent to his teachers, but it also references an "inner rage" he felt and said at times he felt hate for mother, who was religious, as his sexual urges increased and he targeted her for uncounscious sexual drives and conscious feelings of hate." On the day of the incident, she had taken him to McDonald's to look for a job but the restaurant was not hiring, according to the report.

Lothstein, who interviewed Chattin twice and reviewed extensive records before preparing his report, said at their second interview, Chattin wore his hair slicked back and had a "Salvador Dali" moustache, making him look eccentric and odd. He has since shaved.

Lothestin lacks genuine empathy and is a moderate risk for future violence, according to the report. Lothstein testified that the attack on his mother occurred only because Chattin was unmedicated and that he should be medicated for the rest of his life.

Chattin admitted to Lothstein that sometimes he would wake up and feel sick after having killed someone in his drams, or come close to killing them. His most recent "night terror" was in April 2016.

He also told the psychologist he had dreams in which he would try to defend himself from his mother yelling at him and would run away but could not escape her.

k.florin@theday.com