BRIDGEPORT, Conn., July 2 (UPI) -- The prosecution rested in the Bridgeport, Conn., trial of Tyree Lincoln Smith, accused of murdering and eating the brains and eyes of a victim.
Smith, 35, is being tried in Connecticut Supreme Court by a three-judge panel in the 2011 murder of Angel Gonzales, a homeless man living in a vacant Hartford apartment.
Police said Smith hacked up Gonzales with a hatchet, then cannibalized his body, which was found 39 days later.
In court Monday, Smith watched a videotape of investigators interrogating him. In the videotape Smith admitted "hitting him [Gonzales] in the head with the hatchet, hitting him till he fell down and I took his eyes out, and then I took part of his brain out and I ate them."
When asked if Smith also ate the eyes, he responded, "Yes, they needed eyes to see in the spirit realm."
Smith is claiming insanity in the case, The Hartford Courant noted.
In questioning Monday, Smith's cousin Nichole Rabb said Smith was acting strangely.
"He said he was going to look for someone, anyone, who nobody cared about. He said he was going to get blood," she said.
Rabb added she saw Smith later on the next evening, and noticed what appeared to be specks of blood on his pants, and carrying a bloodied axe and chopsticks.
The defense phase of the case is scheduled to begin July 8.
