The man accused of bludgeoning two men to death inside their Allentown home last year is expected to be found not criminally responsible for the killings, with prosecution and defense experts reportedly reaching the same conclusion about his case.
According to The Buffalo News, experts for the prosecution and defense agreed on Chiclana's criminal responsibility.
Chiclana's defense attorneys had previously said they believed he suffered from schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder.
What Happened at the Allentown Home
Authorities say Chiclana was accused of breaking into the Allentown home of Harmon and Celotto and killing them on March 4, 2025, according to BTPM. Per the Buffalo News account, Chiclana was arrested after allegedly entering the home through a broken basement window, and the two men were found dead in separate rooms in the home's basement. The Erie County District Attorney's Office has said both victims died from blunt force trauma, as determined by the Erie County Medical Examiner's Office.
Harmon was a community activist, artist, event organizer, business owner and LGBTQ+ advocate, while Celotto was an artist and DJ, per the same Buffalo News reporting. Police said Chiclana told first responders that he was hearing voices and being followed. BTPM reported that Chiclana was charged on March 7, 2025, with two counts of second-degree murder and one count of first-degree murder following his discharge from ECMC. He now faces first- and second-degree murder charges in the two deaths.
Why a Competency Exam May Come First
Competency and Criminal Responsibility A competency examination evaluates a defendant's current mental state and fitness to proceed with a case — a separate legal question from whether he lacked criminal responsibility at the time of the killings.
A System Strained Statewide
The Allentown case unfolds against a backdrop of broader strain on New York's mental-competency process. Newsday reports that critics describe the state's competency-restoration system as marked by long delays, costs exceeding $1,000 a day, and inconsistent expert determinations. The Legal Aid Society has filed a class-action lawsuit against New York State and New York City alleging delays in competency-restoration treatment, and that case remained pending as of the outlet's reporting.
Other recent cases illustrate how unpredictable these evaluations can be. Newsday reported that Austin Lynch was found competent to stand trial in his own murder case only after a third mental-health evaluation, while Michael Jeffries was initially declared incompetent in 2025 before a federal judge later ruled him competent based on findings from doctors at a federal medical center. In a comparable Bronx case, both prosecutors and the defense acknowledged that 26-year-old Dimone Fleming was experiencing psychosis on the night her children died, and a judge found her not responsible by reason of mental disease or defect, according to NewsNation.
A Supreme Court filing indicated that Chiclana's defense intended to use a psychiatric defense.
