By JIMMY LAWTON

CANTON – Acting St. Lawrence County Court Judge Derek Champagne has dismissed negligent homicide charges against a former St. Lawrence County Psychiatric Center patient.

Jose Miranda was charged with assaulting another patient in 2014. The injuries from the assault were believed to have led to the death of the victim, Robert D. Harrienger II.

Although the incident occurred in May of 2014, Miranda was not charged until December. He was then sent to St. Lawrence County Correctional Facility without bail.

Miranda stayed there until April, when it was determined he was not competent to stand trial for the crime. But the trial was rescheduled for December after the court ruled that he was competent for trial.

However, Judge Champagne ruled that the evidence presented to the grand jury for the indictment was not “sufficient to establish the offense charged or any lesser included offense.”

In his decision, Champagne said the prosecutors failed to demonstrate Miranda’s state of mind.

“The evidence before the grand jury fails to demonstrate the defendant’s state of mind. In order to indict for criminally negligent homicide, the people must prove to the grand jury that the actor failed to perceive the risk of death inherent in his act and this failure constituted gross deviation from the reasonable standard of care,” the decision says. “Criminally negligent homicide cannot be predicated upon every carless act merely because that carelessness results in another’s death. Proof of facts, which tend to merely show, through the occurrence of the result and the concurrence of the defendant’s conduct, that the risk existed and ultimately resulted from the defendant’s conduct, is not sufficient.“

Miranda will be released from jail in 45 days if prosecutors don’t pursue another incitement or appeal the decision. Miranda could be released sooner if prosecutors notify the court they do not intend to resubmit the case to a grand jury.