By Matthew Monks
“Hopefully, he'll get what he deserves,” said Theresa Gaviglia, who flew into a rage in December when a judge initially decided that her husband's suspected killer was mentally unfit for trial. “My children are in therapy now and it's very hard.”She and her in-laws wept in Queens Supreme Court last Thursday while the defense attorney for 44-year-old Steven Boyd accepted a psychiatric evaluation deeming him mentally sound enough to be tried in the November 2004 murder of James Gaviglia, a father of two from Middle Village. In the days before his death, Gaviglia had given money and sandwiches to Boyd, who was crashing in a makeshift shelter beneath the Grand Central Parkway bridge Gaviglia and his crew were painting. When asked to move his stuff, the homeless man allegedly went berserk, shot Gaviglia in the stomach and leg and hung around until the arrival of the authorities, who charged him with murder and criminal possession of a weapon.An initial psychiatric evaluation found that Boyd was a delusional schizophrenic who should not be tried. But a second test performed by Kirby Forensic Psychiatric Center on Ward's Island concluded that he was sound, said Boyd's lawyer, Michael Anastasiou.Anastasiou discussed the case with his client for two hours before last Thursday's hearing, saying the street dweller was a different man than he was six months ago.”He seemed somewhat more lucid,” Anastasiou said, minutes after telling the court he would not contest the findings of the second evaluation, setting the ball in motion for a trial.Boyd, dressed in a gray T-shirt and sweatpants, showed no emotion when State Supreme Court Justice William Erlbaum said he would be arraigned this Thursday on second-degree murder, a charge that carries a maximum penalty of 25 years to life in prison.Reach reporter Matthew Monks by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 156.
