Recently in Criminal Category

Jurors in the Morning Star Boys’ Ranch trial began deliberations Tuesday afternoon after opposing attorneys tried to define the case as all about accountability or all about profit.  “This case is about years and years of a gross violation of the public trust that continues today,” said Daniel Fasy, attorney for Kenneth Putnam, who is suing the group home for troubled boys where he was a resident in 1988-89.

Fasy pointed to the testimony of plaintiff’s witness Douglas Poppen, an expert in group homes for boys, who said he was “shocked and appalled” by the standard of care at Morning Star, particularly its methods of corporal discipline. Fasy asked the jury to consider why Morning Star’s attorneys did not bring their own expert witness to counter that testimony.

For more, see The Spokesman Review.

The a jury was seated in Eldorado, TX, late Wednesday for the trial of Allan Eugene Keate.  Keate will be the second member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints to stand trial on a charge of child sexual assault as an outcome of the state’s historic April 2008 raid on the Yearning for Zion Ranch in Schleicher County.  Following jury selection Wednesday, 51st District Judge Barbara Walther accepted motions from the lawyers and approved one to exempt expert witnesses from the rule that normally excludes them from being seated in the courtroom and listening to the testimony of other witnesses.

Last month in the same makeshift courtroom, another FLDS member, Raymond Merril Jessop, was sentenced by a Schleicher County jury to 10 years in prison on charges similar to those brought against Keate.

For more, see gosanangelo.com.

Prosecutors will be allowed to use all of their intended witnesses in the upcoming competency hearing of accused Elizabeth Smart kidnapper Brian David Mitchell, including their forensic psychiatry expert witness, Dr. Michael Welner.  Welner, a renowned forensic psychiatrist from New York City, has prepared a 206-page report on Mitchell in which he concludes Mitchell is competent to stand trial. In his report, Welner lists 161 sources of information, according to court records.

On Monday, U.S. Magistrate Dale Kimball denied several motions by Mitchell aimed at preventing the testimonies of Welner.  With the exception of Smart, who already delivered her testimony in October, and growing speculation that co-defendant Wanda Barzee will take the stand against her estranged husband, Welner is expected to be the government's key witness during the competency hearing.

Excerpted from deseretnews.com.

The Louisiana Supreme Court on Tuesday unanimously rejected arguments that the convicted killer of a Baton Rouge police officer should be spared the death penalty because he is diagnosed as mildly mentally retarded.  Justice Greg Guidry authored the decision, which affirmed the conviction and death penalty for Shedran Williams, 39.

A store detective sought Lt. Vickie Wax’s assistance after noticing that Williams was leaving the business without paying for two cameras in his back pockets, court records show. Williams seized Wax’s pistol, fatally shot her, wounded the detective and another witness, then bolted from the store and hijacked a car in the parking lot, according to Guidry’s summary of the case. Williams later surrendered. A jury rejected Williams’ claim that he is mildly retarded. They heard conflicting testimony on that issue from expert witnesses for the defense and prosecution, Guidry noted.  "We do not find the jurors were confused on the issues or the evidence before them,” Guidry wrote.

Excerpted from 2theadvocate.com.

Prosecutors preparing for self-proclaimed street preacher Brian David Mitchell's upcoming competency hearing in federal court say his religious views do not make him incompetent to stand trial.  Mitchell has twice been found incompetent for trial in state court. Mitchell and his estranged wife were found with Elizabeth Smart nine months after she disappeared from her Salt Lake City home.

Prosecutors also contend that defense expert witnesses used in Mitchell's state court competency hearing "seriously misjudged and misunderstood the content and context of (Mitchell's) religious thinking and writing," according to court documents.  The government's key forensic psychology expert witness, Dr. Michael Welner is expected to testify that according to staff members at the Utah State Hospital, Mtichell was "unique among the patients in that he was extremely high functioning and that he displayed a clear grasp of his legal situation.

Excerpted from deseretnews.com.

Attorney and DUI expert Lawrence Taylor reports on this Chicago case:

A head emergency room nurse at Advocate Illinois Masonic Hospital has sued the city and a Chicago Police officer for handcuffing her and putting her in the back of a squad car during a dispute over drawing blood from a suspected drunken driver.  Lisa Hofstra said she was the “charge nurse” in the emergency room on Aug. 1 when the officer approached her at about 4 a.m. The officer requested she perform a blood work-up on a DUI suspect, the lawsuit said. Hofstra told told the officer the suspect needed to be admitted to the hospital before she could draw the person’s blood. Hofstra said she told a police lieutenant that it was the hospital’s protocol to wait until a suspect was admitted, and the lieutenant agreed, she said.  The lieutenant left the emergency room. 

Then Hofstra called her supervisors, but before they could respond, the officer put her in handcuffs in front of her co-workers and escorted her to a squad car, according to the lawsuit…She was in the car for about 45 minutes before the situation was resolved, Hofstra said. The cuffs were too tight, requiring treatment in the hospital after she was released from custody, she said.  A security video of the incident shows the officer smiling outside the squad car as Hofstra sat inside.  Hofstra said it was a major problem for her to be removed from the emergency room at a time when there were numerous patients suffering from “bad trauma.”  She was responsible for triage — the process of deciding which patients need the most urgent attention.  If this officer is treating me the way he treated me, what is he going to do to people on the street?” Hofstra said, adding that she filed her lawsuit to “stand up for nurses.”

Taylor notes that "In cop-talk, it’s called 'attitude adjustment' or 'field-administered punishment' for not doing what you’re told."

Attorneys for a Wilminton, Ohio, man charged this month with murder in a 1993 death are asking for court approval to hire a DNA expert and a private investigator at a combined cost of $13,000.  Clinton County Common Pleas Court Judge John W. Rudduck this week said he needs more information before he will decide whether to grant the request for funds to retain an expert witness and an investigator. The merits of the request will be heard at an oral hearing Sept. 15 in the common pleas courtroom.  Terrin “Randy” R. Long, 46, of Wilmington, is charged with the death of 32-year-old Dianna Jean Crum in May 1993.

There are circumstances that might require a court to provide an indigent defendant funds to hire a private investigator and expert witnesses, Rudduck wrote in his court entry on the request. But there is another side to this coin, according to the judge.  A key consideration in determining whether to order state-funded expert assistance, according to Rudduck, is gauging what the probable value of the added service is, and the risk of error in the legal proceedings if the assistance is not provided.  “If the court believes the accuracy of the expected trial is adversely affected by not providing the defendant this expert’s advice, the court will authorize expenditure of reasonable funds to ensure the accuracy of the trial,” Rudduck wrote.

Excerpted from wnewssj.com

An expert witness testified last week that Justin Heyne, convicted Brevard County, FL, triple murderer, has significant brain damage and cannot contain aggressive and violent behavior.  Dr. Joseph Wu, a psychiatrist at University of California, says Heyne shows damage in his temporal lobe and likely suffered damage from a concussion in childhood and possibly another one later in life. "His temporal lobe is malfunctioning," Wu said, comparing Heyne's condition to faulty brakes on a car. "Cocaine and alcohol on top of that is like putting gas on a fire."

Palm Bay forensic psychology expert William Riebsame testified Heyne knew what he was doing and knew that it was wrong when he shot and killed the family of three in 2006.  But he also said Heyne may suffer from bipolar disorder. He said both Hamilton and Heyne were using cocaine and drinking beer the day of the shootings. "That should be considered when trying to make sense of Heyne's actions," he said.  Assistant State Attorney Tom Brown said it appeared Heyne was able to think clearly when he fled the scene, hid the weapon, showered and changed into clean clothes.

Excerpted from FloridaToday.com.

Forensic psychiatry expert Dr. Moira Artigues testified last week in defense of Antonio Glennwood Byrd, 26, who is charged with first-degree murder in the July 2, 2007, death of his girlfriend's daughter. The charge came after Mr. Byrd took 2-year-old Miracle McLean to the Anderson Creek Fire Station around 7:15 that morning saying the child had drowned in the tub shortly after he arrived home from work at 7.  The defense expert, a general and forensic psychiatrist from Cary, NC, also says Byrd's mild mental retardation caused him to mistake the child's condition before her death as "normal" and maintains there was not enough time between the infliction of the injuries and death to tie Mr. Byrd to the crime, a point now largely discredited by prior testimony.

Prosecutors Davis Weddle and Teresa Postell allege Mr. Byrd beat the child so badly she died of internal bleeding from blunt force trauma to the abdomen. The autopsy also revealed blunt force trauma to the head and revealed the child was recovering from a broken shoulder.

Excerpted from DailyRecord.com.

A former postal employee from Bridgeport, CT, accused of stealing about $1,000 in gift cards from the mail last year, pleaded guilty Monday to misappropriating postal funds while employed as a Postal Service mail-processing clerk, the US Attorney's office said.  A legal filing in federal court said that Police agreed that the prosecution had evidence that included "physical evidence including the gift cards that were recovered from Ms. Police's person, as well as the testimony of law enforcement officers, expert witnesses, and other witnesses."

 When sentenced Oct. 1, she faces penalties of up to six months in prison and a fine of up to $5,000, under the guidelines used in federal court. Her plea agreement with federal prosecutors also requires that she pay the owners of the cards a total of $1,050.

Excerpted from Courant.com.