ST. JOHNSBURY - After a week of deliberation, the hearing for Evan Rapoza has finally come to an end.

Judge Kathleen Manley decided that twenty-one year old Evan Rapoza will not be transferred to a Washington County halfway house.  Instead, Rapoza will remain at the Brattleboro Retreat, a secure mental health facility, for at least another year.

Rapoza is accused of assaulting Fred's Propane employee last February.  Rapoza reportedly used a wrench to beat the employee, and also tried drowning him by sticking his head in a bucket of water.

Rapoza went on trial, where he was found insane and unable to stand trial.  He then was sent to a mental health facility, and has remained a facility ever since.

Just recently, Rapoza was asked the court if he could be transferred to a halfway house in Waterbury.

Rapoza's hearing lasted just 2 days, during which several witnesses were called to the stand to testify about Rapoza's progress and recent health.  Many believed he was ready to move on, including the doctor asked by the state to give a detailed report on Rapoza.

"He's behaved as a gentleman in the hospital," said Dr. Robert Linder, who administered and reported on his findings of Evan Rapoza.  "That's why we can even have this conversation."

"I don't believe he's a harm to himself or others," said Dr. Corey Nole, who is Rapoza's current treating physician at the Brattleboro Retreat.

Apparently, Judge Kathleen Manley believed differently, saying that he was a threat not necessarily to himself, but potentially to others.

Manley said that the state's discharge plan for Rapoza was "inadequate."  Manley believes that because "it failed to protect public safety in the event of a relapse.

In he decision, she wrote, "It is in the state's interest that Rapoza continues to be in a patient treatment in a lock down facility."

Rapoza can re-apply for his release in a year.