Tory Bryant is considered mentally ill and plead guilty for assault and battery for hitting his daughter. In a plea deal they dropped 3 attempted murder charges when he set the house on fire with his mother, daughter and other child were inside. The judge mandated Tory Bryant to AA or NA meetings, anger management and a psychological evaluation!
Tory Bryant admits setting fire to his mother’s Springfield house
By Buffy Spencer, The Republican
on September 24, 2013
Rosalyn Bryant said her son would never have set her house on fire – with her, his 5-year-old daughter, and another 7-year-old inside – if he hadn’t been drunk and high on drugs.
Page said since she was appointed to the bench 15 years ago, she has repeatedly talked about the need for a secure facility to which she could sentence people with mental-health issues such as the 24-year-old Bryant.
But since there is no such facility, Page imposed a 2 1/2- to four-year sentence to state prison. Tory Bryan pleaded guilty to charges, admitting he set the fire at the family home.
Assistant District Attorney Clarissa A. Wright showed Page photos of the Rosewell Street house, which had about $40,000 in damage as a result of the fire. Bryant’s mother, daughter and the other girl got out safely after the alarm sounded, and they saw smoke, according to the prosecutor.
Wright said Rosalyn Bryant called police on Sept. 12, 2012, after Tory Bryant hit his daughter, who Rosalyn Bryant had adopted as her own. Police, responding to the domestic dispute call, arrived to see black smoke coming from the house.
After moving the three people further away, police used a nearby hose to try to douse the fire before the Fire Department got there, Wright said.
Rosalyn Bryant told police, “I can’t believe he did this. My son, my son Tory set the house on fire,” Wright said. After Rosalyn Bryant called police, Tory Bryant went to the basement where he sometimes stayed and started a fire, then left with his girlfriend, according to Wright. Police caught up with him in his car, she said.
As part of the plea agreement three counts of attempted murder were dropped.
Tory Bryant also pleaded guilty to a charge of assault and battery for hitting his child, and received a three-year probationary sentence on that charge.
Defense lawyer Nikolas Andreopoulos said Tory Bryant was drunk and high on marijuana at the time he set the fire, and was also angry because he had no parental rights to discipline his 5-year-old daughter. Andreopoulos said his client, the father of three, is “a gentle giant” most of the time.
Andreopoulos submitted a social worker’s report to Page, which she read and then said it answered questions she had. “There’s some really interesting family dynamics going on here that are unhealthy and need to be resolved,” the judge said.
“You’ve got to get some help,” she told Tory Bryant. As conditions of probation he must get a psychological evaluation and take any medications prescribed, take anger management, have no drugs or alcohol, go to Narcotics Anonymous or Alcoholics Anonymous and maintain part-time employment. Smart Recovery meetings Florida.
http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2013/09/tory_bryant_admits_setting_fir.html