Opinion ID: 618946
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Black’s brain damage

Text: Another key point of contention is whether Black suffered from brain damage at an early age. Dr. Albert Globus, an expert in psychiatry and neurology who examined Black in 2001 in order to assess his competency to stand trial, reexamined him just before the state court’s post-conviction hearing. In addition, Dr. Ruben Gur, an expert in neuropsychology, testified in a video deposition taken after the hearing regarding the cause of Black’s brain damage. Both Drs. Globus and Gur concluded, based on MRI and PET-scan images of Black’s brain, that Black has extensive brain damage that was likely caused by his mother’s drinking alcohol while pregnant, but might also have been caused by other occurrences during his childhood. Nos. 02-5032; 08-5644 Black v. Bell Page 9 The State does not contest that Black currently has brain damage. But the source of his condition is highly disputed. This point is important to the assessment of Black’s level of intelligence by the time he was age 18. If his current brain damage existed at an earlier stage of his life, then his current level of intelligence is all the more probative of his intellectual capacity at that earlier stage because any symptoms resulting from his brain damage would have also been present earlier on. Moreover, if Black’s brain was damaged earlier in his life, that determination would impact the credibility of the conclusion by the State’s experts—who never personally met with Black—that he was malingering on his recent I.Q. tests. Rather than offer an alternative explanation for his brain damage, the State argues that Black did not sufficiently prove that his brain damage was caused by the time he was age 18. 3. Expert assessments of Black’s adaptive deficits In addition to assessing Black’s numerical I.Q. level, the various expert witnesses at his state post-conviction Atkins hearing testified regarding his level of adaptive functioning. These experts explained how Black functions in society and when his relevant characteristics manifested themselves. They dispute whether Black displays adaptive deficits and, if so, when these problems arose. Black’s experts explained that he has difficulty interacting according to ordinary social conventions and that he is paranoid, delusional, naive, and inappropriately happy. They also determined that he has deficits in his communication and functional academic skills and that he displays symptoms of various psychiatric disorders. Based on Black’s childhood experiences, as well as the alleged early onset of his brain damage, Black’s experts concluded that he had adaptive deficits by the age of 18. But the State’s experts determined that Black displayed adequate skills across a variety of practical, social, and intellectual categories of behavior. Although they thought that Black had various personality problems and that he might suffer from various mental disorders, they did not think that Black qualified as mentally retarded. The State’s experts also determined that to the extent Black displayed adaptive deficits, he either strategically presented himself in that way (according to Dr. Engum) or had Nos. 02-5032; 08-5644 Black v. Bell Page 10 deteriorated more recently and therefore did not display these characteristics by the age of 18 (according to Dr. Vaught). After recounting some of the expert testimony on these issues, the TCCA concluded that Black did not meet his burden of proof to show that he had sufficient deficits in his adaptive behavior by the age of 18. 4. Lay witnesses Black presented four lay witnesses at his Atkins post-conviction hearing to testify regarding various aspects of his social and educational history. Mary Smithson-Craighead, who started working as an administrator at Black’s elementary school in 1965 and was in charge of Black’s grade level for, at most, a year and a half, testified regarding the conditions at Black’s school. Black’s sister, Melba Corley, talked about Black’s upbringing. Al Dennis, Black’s high school football coach, discussed Black’s experience on the football team. Finally, Richard Corley, Black’s brother-in-law, testified about Black’s job as a courier at an insurance company. Both sides draw on various aspects of these witnesses’ testimony to support their respective positions concerning Black’s level of intellectual functioning and his adaptive behavior by the age of 18. 5. Prior decisions on Black’s Atkins claim The state trial court determined that Black’s post-conviction Atkins claim merited an evidentiary hearing. At this evidentiary hearing, Black had the burden of showing by a preponderance of the evidence that he met Tennessee’s definition of mental retardation under Atkins. After the hearing concluded, the court summarized what it viewed as the determinative evidence from the voluminous record and, based on this evidence, denied Black’s Atkins claim for post-conviction relief. The TCCA affirmed the trial court’s rejection of Black’s claim. In its “Analysis” section, the TCCA mostly reviewed, without taking a stance on, the conflicting expert assessments of the factual record. But the TCCA did recognize that, according to Black’s experts, the Flynn Effect and/or the SEM brings his middle set of I.Q. scores into the mentally retarded range. Based on Howell v. State, 151 S.W.3d 450, 457 (Tenn. Nos. 02-5032; 08-5644 Black v. Bell Page 11 2004), however, the TCCA determined that it was prohibited from considering these scientific concepts in assessing Black’s numerical I.Q. score. The TCCA’s assessment of the factual record also makes clear that it was skeptical of the opinions of Drs. Globus and Gur regarding when Black’s brain damage occurred. But the TCCA did not go so far as to make a definitive factual conclusion regarding the date of onset of Black’s brain damage. The court also discounted Dr. Grant’s conclusion that Black displayed deficits in his adaptive behavior because, although Dr. Grant observed that Black had never engaged in a number of commonplace activities, “there is no proof in the record that [Black] was unable to do these things.” Black, 2005 WL 2662577, at . It also pointed out that none of Black’s childhood I.Q. scores fell in the mentally retarded range. But the TCCA reached its ultimate conclusion that “the proof in the record simply does not support that [Black’s] I.Q. was below seventy or that [Black] had deficits in his adaptive behavior prior to age eighteen” without stating which pieces of evidence were essential to its conclusion. Id. at . In denying habeas relief to Black on his Atkins claim, the district court approvingly referenced the TCCA’s rejection of the application of the Flynn Effect and the SEM based on Howell. It also concluded, based on a review of how other jurisdictions have dealt with the Flynn Effect, that the TCCA’s rejection of these concepts did not render the state process arbitrary, unreasonable, or less than full and fair. The district court further rejected Black’s three remaining arguments in support of his Atkins claim. First, the court determined that the TCCA’s discounting of Dr. Grant’s adaptive-deficits assessment did not render the state court’s decision unreasonable. It found no basis to question the TCCA’s ruling that, although the record indicated that Black had not performed the commonplace daily tasks mentioned by Dr. Grant, there was no showing that Black could not perform these tasks. Second, the court concluded that because Black had not shown that an aptitude test is equivalent to an I.Q. test, his low ninth-grade Differential Aptitude Test scores did not mean that his I.Q. was 70 or below by age 18. Nos. 02-5032; 08-5644 Black v. Bell Page 12 Finally, the district court noted that “the evidence before the state court . . . may or may not indicate that [Black’s brain damage] existed and caused mental retardation” by the time Black was 18 years of age. The court based this observation on its determination that Drs. Globus and Gur were unable to point definitively to the cause of Black’s brain damage or establish that this injury was the cause of Black’s mental retardation. It also quoted the TCCA’s reference to “Dr. Vaught’s testimony explaining the difference between mental illness and mental retardation, and her conclusion that [Black’s] early difficulties were likely caused by mental health issues or learning disabilities, rather than mental retardation.”