Retired Beacon officer accused of killing roommate

The mental health of Edison Irizarry, the retired Beacon police officer accused of murdering the man who shared his apartment, will be evaluated before his next court date in December.

Irizarry, 52, was arrested July 21 after Beacon police responded to a 911 call placed by Irizarry, who said he had shot his roommate. Police found Casey Cuddy, 58, of Beacon, dead inside an apartment at 86 Rombout Ave.

Irizarry served 17 years with the Beacon police before retiring in 2021. After determining that the caller was a retired officer, Beacon police turned the investigation over to the New York State Police.

Irizarry was indicted by a Dutchess County grand jury on Aug. 5 on a second-degree murder charge and is being held at the county jail in Poughkeepsie without bail.

The district attorney's office said that Irizarry is accused of shooting Cuddy, a psychiatric mental health nurse, multiple times with a 9-millimeter semi-automatic Glock pistol. Irizarry pleaded not guilty in Beacon City Court on July 22.

In an interview last month, Irizarry told the Times Union that he acted in self-defense to prevent "something evil from happening."

On Wednesday (Sept. 24), Susan Mraz Mungavin, Irizarry's public defender, and Brittney Kessel, the deputy unit chief of the Dutchess County DA's Office, met privately for about 10 minutes with Judge Jessica Segal.

When they emerged, Segal said that Mungavin had hired a psychiatric expert to evaluate her client. She set an Oct. 22 deadline for Mungavin to file motions related to the evaluation.

Prosecutors must file their response, if any, by Nov. 12 and Segal set Dec. 10 as the next court date. Irizarry did not appear.