A three-judge panel in Middletown on Tuesday gave a New London woman who killed her 4-year-old son a 40-year sentence to spend all of her time in the high security unit at Whiting Forensic Hospital.
Tiffany Farrauto said she did not remember killing David “Cash” Jasmin Jr. by strangling him on the morning of March 7, 2021. She did not seem to react to the judges’ ruling in New London Superior Court.
Judges John Newson, Shari Murphy, and Kevin Shay had found Farrauto not guilty by reason of insanity in a trial earlier this year. He was charged with murder.
So, Farrauto had to make a promise that would last between 25 and 60 years. The judges could have also decided to let her go.
Newson said on Tuesday that Farrauto, who is 36 years old, was still a “grave risk to the community” and that letting her go would put her and other people in danger. Newson said the decision was based on what was said in court and what a team at Whiting wrote.
The public attorney for Farrauto, Aimee Starita, had pushed for a minimal commitment and a less restrictive setting for Farrauto at Whiting because Farrauto has never been violent and has been doing well in treatment.
On Tuesday, Dr. Lori Hauser, a senior forensic psychologist at Whiting, said in court that Farrauto is bipolar and had a sudden manic episode the day of the killing, even though she has never been violent before.
She said it is not impossible that Farrauto’s “mental break” was caused by weed use.
It is still too early to tell how well Farruato would do in a less controlled setting or on her own in the community, even though she is doing well in treatment and is no longer taking any antipsychotic drugs.
“That sounds like it would be too much for her,” Hauser said.
According to psychiatrists who talked to Farrauto, she killed her son because she felt like she had to take care of her child alone, with less help from her family.
Farrauto had been getting more and more nervous in the weeks before the murder.
She called the police and the state Department of Children and Families to say she thought her son was being sexually abused at day care. Investigators found no proof that ever happened.
When cops arrived at Farrauto’s apartment on Nautilus Drive, she was yelling and hitting a car with a baseball bat.
This was after killing her son in her apartment. When a police officer asked Farrauto how her day was going, she said it was bad.
Police say Farrauto told them, “I just killed my son” when they asked her why she was having a bad day. Later, she told police that she had killed her son by giving him CBD candy.
In a letter read in court on Tuesday, the child’s father, David Jasmin, asked for his ex-girlfriend to get the harshest possible term.
Before the killing, the two had grown apart. In his letter, Jasmin said that the tragedy has made him have problems with his own mental health, drugs, and the law.
Jasmin wrote, “The memory of that day is burned into my brain.” “I wish I could hear one more laugh and see one more smile.”
Jennifer Martin, who is the aunt of David Jasmin Jr., said that the killing “changed our family’s future forever.” Martin wrote to the court that Farrauto should be able to deal with her mental health problems but should not be able to have any more children.
Because of her commitment, Farrauto is now being watched over by the Psychiatric Security Review Board.
This board could decide later that Farrauto does not need to be kept in maximum security and could even suggest that she be let out into the community before 40 years from now.
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