AUGUSTA -- Eighteen months after he was found not criminally responsible for shooting and killing a 13-year-old boy, a Palmyra man has been granted limited, supervised time off the grounds of the state's mental hospital.

Todd Curry, 41, has been at Riverview Psychiatric Center in Augusta since the December 2007 ruling in Somerset County Superior Court.

Curry was charged with the Nov. 28, 2006, murder of Anthony Tucker, who was the son of his girlfriend, April Cooley.

Mental-health experts testified at his trial that Curry was suffering from bipolar disorder and profoundly psychotic when he shot the boy with an assault rifle. Cooley and their infant daughter escaped from the Warren Hill Road home just prior to the shooting.

Justice Joseph Jabar agreed to allow Curry to leave hospital grounds for up to two hours while he is supervised by a Riverview employee. If this proves successful for two months, Curry's supervised time off grounds can be increased to three hours.

The request came from Curry's attorney, Harold Hainke.

It had the support of Curry's treating psychiatrist, Dr. Robert Fisher; and Debra Baeder, chief psychologist with the State Forensic Service, which evaluates patients for the court.

Fisher said Curry was first diagnosed with bipolar/manic-depression disorder in 1986, then suffered a serious head injury in a car accident. Fisher said Curry was manipulative and practiced deceptive behavior when he was first placed at Riverview, but that his demeanor and participation in therapeutic programs has improved over the past six months.

"This is a gentleman with us for a horrible crime occasioned by serious mental illness and substance abuse," Fisher said. "He is sorry. He is terribly upset by what happened."

Baeder said the supervised time off grounds was a logical next step in his treatment.

"By all reports, (Curry's) behavior has improved," she said.

Several of Tucker's family members attended the hearing Monday in Kennebec County Superior Court, including Tucker's uncle, Lewis Elliott, of Hartland.

"I think they understand him pretty well," Elliott said after hearing the testimony about Curry's progress and behavior at Riverview.

Jabar also granted increased time in the community for Craig Hinson, Michael MacDonald and Kristian McKay.

Hinson was found not guilty by reason of insanity in the strangulation death of his uncle, Edward Simpson, in 1990 in Monson. He spent a number of years at the former Bangor Mental Health Institute and then was moved to Riverview.

Jabar approved an increase in the time Hinson could spend with this mother in Monson and will allow him to work up to four hours a day under supervision of a job coach or employer.

Hinson is allowed to leave his Augusta group home for up to four hours at a time and likes to use that time to ride his bicycle, according to testimony in court on Monday.

MacDonald, who was found not criminally responsible in Aroostook County Superior Court for the April 2004 shooting and bludgeoning death of his father, will be allowed to attend sporting events in Portland as part of a small group supervised by Riverview personnel.

Later, if he continues to succeed in treatment, he will be allowed to participate in community activities with a one-to-three staff-to-patient ratio.

McKay, 23, formerly of Standish, who was found not criminally responsible for the March 2007 stabbing death of his father, was permitted to have up to six hours of structured, unsupervised time away from Riverview for sports or visits with friends approved by Riverview.

Jabar refused to allow McKay unsupervised, unstructured time away from the facility.

Betty Adams -- 621-5631

badams@centralmaine.com