CHELSEA — A 74-year-old Newbury, Vt., man who shot and killed his 38-year-old daughter when she came to his home for a welfare check has been found insane and will not stand trial.

James Perry is “not guilty by reasons of insanity” following a psychiatric evaluation. Doctors concluded that Perry was “floridly psychotic with paranoid delusions and hallucinations” when he shot his daughter at point-blank range with a shotgun four years ago, according to a court order by Judge Daniel Richardson in Orange County Superior Court.

Upon review of Perry’s psychiatric evaluation, the judge on April 4 said the conclusions met the defendant’s burden to show that at the time of shooting he “lacked the capacity” to understand the criminality of act and that Perry was suffering from a “paranoid and psychotic state.”

Perry was charged with second-degree murder, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and reckless endangerment for shooting his daughter, Karina Rheaume, on May 3, 2021, at his home on Deerfield Lane in Newbury.

She had come to visit with cookies to check on his well-being.

Rheaume’s boyfriend later called police to report that when he went to Perry’s home after she did not return from the visit there that Perry had pointed a rifle at him and told him Rheaume was dead. He told the boyfriend “if he took one step closer, he’d be dead, too,” according to a police affidavit.

Following his arrest, Perry was diagnosed with suffering from mental delusions lasting longer than a month but he nonetheless was deemed competent to stand trial, with a court-appointed psychiatrist concluding that he had the “capacity to assist … in the preparation of a defense.”

Perry’s attorneys retained the right to hire their own forensic examiner to assess his mental health under an insanity defense. It was that second evaluation — with which both defense attorneys and prosecutors stipulated they agreed — that the judge relied upon in his ruling earlier this month.

A self-employed carpenter, Perry’s family is well-known in the Newbury and Bradford area, including owning the Perry’s Oil Fuel and propane business.

Perry never denied shooting his daughter, according to police and psychologists who evaluated him afterward.

“In the months leading up to the shooting, (Perry) had become disconnected from reality and was occupying a paranoid and delusional space marked by hallucinations and disordered thinking,” Richardson wrote in his order.

Although Perry’s psychiatric evaluation remains under seal, Richardson referenced eight “contributory factors” cited in the evaluation that led to his psychosis, including a long period of self-isolation due to the COVID-19 pandemic, depression, malnutrition, hearing loss, a prior psychotic event, cognitive decline and “information reverberations” created by watching TV news of political turmoil, including the U.S. Capitol riot of Jan. 6, 2021.

“The facts show that (Perry) acted out of a belief that he was being pursued for assassination by Seal Team 6 and his daughter was working in collusion to poison him and expose him to the assassins,” Richardson wrote.

Perry’s documented state of mind at the time of the shooting met the burden of proof under Vermont law that he lacked “adequate capacity” to understand the criminality of his conduct or conform to the law, Richardson said.

Perry has been held without bail at Southern State Correctional Facility in Springfield.

The judge’s order notes that the forensic psychologist reported that Perry continued to exhibit psychotic “symptoms and issues” while in prison. Only recently due to “several years of regular nutrition, the socialization that resulted from being lodged with other inmates and a regime of pain management have these mental illnesses begun to recede and “Perry) to connect with reality again.”

Perry is next scheduled for a hospitalization hearing on Tuesday in Orange County Superior Court.

The purpose of the hearing, which will be attended the county prosecutor, a representative from the state’s Department of Health Health, Vermont Legal Aid and the victim’s advocate, is to assess Perry’s current mental condition, treatment program and the appropriate place for him to reside and any conditions.

Depending on the outcome of that hearing — which typically comes in a follow-up order by the judge — Perry could face anything from ranging from confinement to a mental health facility to release back into the community.

Contact John Lippman at jlippman@vnews.com.