Man charged in library stabbing sent to psychiatric hospital

BOSTON – The man accused of stabbing a woman to death inside a Massachusetts public library has been sent to a maximum security psychiatric hospital.

Defence Attorney J.W. Carney tells The Boston Globe that 23-year-old Jeffrey Yao was transferred to Bridgewater State Hospital after officials from the Middlesex Sherriff’s Office told a judge he was too mentally ill to remain in jail.

Yao has pleaded not guilty to murder in the death of 22-year-old Deane Kenny Stryker. Authorities say he stabbed Stryker 20 times with a hunting knife at the Winchester Public Library on Saturday in what prosecutors have called an unprovoked attack.

Carney praised the sheriff’s office for recognizing that Yao is “not appropriate for a jail, but rather a maximum security psychiatric hospital.”

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Information from: The Boston Globe, http://www.bostonglobe.com