Rochester man charged with criminally negligent homicide in Psych Center assault death

As reoirted in the Watertown Daily News

Many more details at the link

A Rochester man has been charged with criminally negligent homicide after being accused of assaulting a fellow St. Lawrence County Psychiatric Center patient who later died as a result of his injuries.

Jose D. Miranda, 64, a patient of the Rochester Psychiatric Center, 1111 Elmwood Ave, was arrested Tuesday by detectives on a sealed St. Lawrence County Court indictment, according to a news release from Ogdensburg police.

Miranda was then transported to St. Lawrence County Court, Canton, and arraigned before Judge Jerome J. Richards on one count of criminally negligent homicide, a felony.

At arraignment, he was ordered held without bail and sent to the St. Lawrence County jail, Canton.

Officers of the Ogdensburg Police Department Criminal Investigations Unit allege the victim, Robert D. Harrienger II, 58, a native of Adams, was assaulted by Mr. Miranda about 6 p.m. May 12 at the St. Lawrence Psychiatric Center’s Trinity Building.

Mr. Harrienger was transported by the Ogdensburg Rescue Squad to the Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center to be treated for head injuries. Due to the extent of his injuries and his condition, Mr. Harrienger later was transferred to Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, where he died several hours later.

An autopsy performed by the Onondaga County medical examiner’s office ruled the cause of death to be homicide.

Mr. Harrienger’s obituary said he was a general laborer in the garage of the psychiatric center for 20 years until retiring because of disability.

Miranda was a patient at the center. After the assault, he was transferred to a state psychiatric center in Marcy.

His arrest was a result of a lengthy investigation. During the investigation, he remained in state custody under psychiatric care.

Miranda, originally of the Bronx, has a long history of violent crimes, including a manslaughter conviction in 1972

You would expect that hospitals would be safe places for people, not a place where you take your life in your hands.