A Suffolk Superior Court judge yesterday ordered a Lynn man to Bridgewater State Hospital after prosecution and defense experts agreed that he suffered from a major mental illness at the time he stabbed his mother, Lisa Bryson Roche, to death two years ago.

Judge Charles Spurlock found CORY ROCHE (D.O.B. 6/15/84) not criminally responsible for Bryson Roche’s Feb. 25, 2008, stabbing death after an unusual jury-waived trial in which Suffolk County homicide prosecutors and Roche’s defense team stipulated to the underlying facts of Bryson Roche’s death. The only live testimony came from three psychiatric experts who diagnosed Roche with paranoid schizophrenia and concurred that he could not conform his behavior to the law when he killed the 42-year-old woman in the basement of her Revere home.

Prosecutors called the verdict a just one. Although the prosecution expert agreed that Roche was not criminally responsible for his actions, prosecutors sought to build a record of Roche’s actions and ensure that he remains in a secure and structured setting for the foreseeable future. Massachusetts law allows for a defendant such as Roche to remain hospitalized for an indefinite, and possibly lifelong, period.

The evidence adduced at trial established that Roche traveled to Bryson Roche’s home on Fernwood Avenue and became angry when she would not immediately prepare his taxes. He left the building, returned, and stabbed her multiple times in the basement a knife he had brought.

Other family members present in the home closed a door between the basement and first floor of the residence, trapping Roche in the basement, and called 911. Responding Revere Police officers opened that door to find the victim mortally wounded and Roche holding the knife. Roche extended the knife when police ordered him to drop it, and an officer shot him once in the torso.

Bryson Roche was transported to Whidden Memorial Hospital, where she succumbed to her injuries. The defendant was transported to Massachusetts General Hospital, where he was arraigned the next day on a murder charge. He has been held without bail since that time.

Assistant District Attorney Mark Lee prosecuted the case. Jennifer Stott was the assigned victim-witness advocate. Robert Wheeler represented the defendant.