David Messenger, acquitted by reason of insanity in the 1998 beating death of his pregnant wife in their Chaplin home, has progressed so far in his treatment that he should be allowed to travel anywhere in the state except Windham County, have a smart phone, and stay out until midnight on weekends.

That was the testimony Friday of a forensic psychologist and the supervisor of Messenger's release in the community at a hearing before the Psychiatry Security Review Board.

Messenger had asked for the phone, a later curfew, and the ability to travel beyond Hartford County. Initially committed in 2001, Messenger has been living in a supervised apartment and receiving treatment at a regional mental-health center in Hartford since 2015, with no violations, according to testimony.

Assistant States Attorney Andrew Slitt, who works out of the Windham office, peppered psychologist Fred Storey and release-manager Archer Bridgeforth with questions about whether a further expansion of Messenger's freedoms would heighten the risk to the public. Both said it would not.

The Psychiatric Security Review Board, which supervises 150 people who were acquitted of crimes by reason of mental disease or defect, will vote on this new request by Aug. 25.

Ellen Lachance, who supervises the staff that supports the board, said it's common for community mental-health teams to ask for additional privileges for patients who are responding well to treatment in part so they can gauge how the person will do when he or she is no longer under any supervision.

In the early years of his commitment, Messenger was confined in the maximum security Whiting Forensic Division at Connecticut Valley Hospital. He has steadily gained freedom which has been unsettling to the family of Heather Messenger, who was 42 when Messenger beat her to death with a fireplace poker. The couple's son, then 5, witnessed the attack on his mother.

"We don't think a killer deserves any privileges and of course wonder how and why he can already have so many and yet ask for more," Hannah Williamson, Heather Messenger's sister, said Friday in an email from Michigan.

"We still believe he should be in jail. After all, Heather was the victim and she is still dead," Williamson said. "He seems to have more freedom than any other 'acquittee.'"

Messenger's 20-year commitment expires in 2021. A Superior Court judge would decide whether to grant a discharge. The prosecution can file a request for continued commitment.

Messenger's long push toward freedom hasn't been lost on Middletown officials. When they learned in 2006 that Messenger at that point was making trips into Middletown escorted by staff, then-Mayor Sebastian Giuliano said he would have a police officer "stapled to his butt" as soon as he left the hospital grounds. CVH in June 2006 voluntarily decided not to let Messenger go on any unsupervised visits. But that order has long since been lifted.

He still is not allowed to drive a car (he has no driver's license). He cannot leave Connecticut, and he must continue to wear his GPS device so his whereabouts can be monitored. He lives in a supervised residence in Hartford, which has a curfew of 11 p.m. on weeknights and midnight on weekends. Messenger's curfew had been 10 p.m.. He is now asking for permission to abide by the later curfew of the residence.

Heather Messenger's family has argued that Messenger should not have been released to the community because he has access to significant amounts of money that he could use to track them down.

"Our position has been well stated, and we regret the decision that was made and, in doing so, we fear for the people in Hartford who may inadvertently run into the killer," Daniel Williamson, Heather's brother, said in 2013.

Williamson and his wife, Melody, have raised Heather Messenger's son, Dane, from boyhood at their home in Illinois.

The Courant has reported that Messenger has access to nearly $2 million in property, bank accounts and investments, including an island house in Maine.

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Acquitted Wife-Killer Asks For Smart Phone, Later Curfew, Freedom To Travel In State - Hartford Courant