Opinion ID: 1718692
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: State's rebuttal case: Dr. George Seiden

Text: Following defendant's penalty phase of the case in which he claimed mental retardation as a complete bar to the death penalty, the State called in rebuttal Dr. George Seiden, whom the trial court accepted as an expert in psychiatry and forensic psychiatry. Dr. Seiden testified that he had interviewed defendant and reviewed the same reports and medical records reviewed by the defense expert, Dr. Baker, as well as Dr. Baker's test results and report. Dr. Seiden testified that the head injury defendant sustained in 1994 did not result in any mental capacity dysfunction, nor did defendant suffer from any post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of that beating. Dr. Seiden observed that the CT scans of defendant's brain following that injury revealed that defendant experienced bleeding in the tentorium cerebelli, which is the area of the brain that is involved primarily in balance and coordination, with some role in memory. Dr. Seiden stressed that the area of defendant's brain injury did not involve executive functioning or impulse control that would be the frontal cortexwhich showed no injury in defendant's medical records. Dr. Seiden testified that, upon his review of defendant's IQ test results, he did not find defendant mentally retarded. Defendant's full scale IQ of 73 is not recognized within the range for mild mental retardation (55-70). An IQ of 73 is in the range of borderline intellectual functioning which is above mild mental retardation. Dr. Seiden explained that the measure of IQ can be affected by all sorts of things, for example, if someone takes an IQ test when they are sick, the test score will probably be lower. Similarly, if the person being tested is depressed, the IQ could be 10 to 15 points lower than when that individual is not depressed. Dr. Seiden also addressed the validity components of defendant's MMPI test as presented on the three validity indicators, the L, F, and K scales. According to Dr. Seiden, the larger the difference between the F scale and the K scale, the greater the likelihood that the person is exaggerating the extent of their disturbance. The MMPI is a test of 567 true/false questions, computer-scored. Of the 10 clinical scales tested by the MMPI, the computer breaks out the scores into obvious versus subtle in five of those scales. Dr. Seiden gave the example that some test questions asked clearly relate to depression as to which anyone taking the test will be able to know that has something to do with depression. But there are going to be other questions in there that the general public doesn't know [have] something to do with depression. Consequently, when there is a big difference between the obvious scores and the subtle scores, that is an indication of exaggeration. Dr. Seiden noted that on defendant's MMPI, his depression scale showed an obvious score of 76, and a subtle score of only 48. Dr. Seiden found that to be a significant disparity, and elaborated: [T]here is a pretty big range in between them. What's called the hysteria scale which measures certain physical complaints, emotional ability, dramatic presentations, those kinds of things. His obvious score is 103, almost off the scale. His subtle score is 43, actually in the low end of normal, big, big difference. In every one of the scales where there is an obvious versus the subtle, his obvious is significantly higher. Four (4) out of the five (5) [scales on defendant's MMPI] is significantly higher, there's one, the mania scale where there's only a 7 point difference. So he's not trying to show himself as having energy but in the other four (4) scales, big differences between obvious and subtle. Another indication of exaggeration on his presentation. Dr. Seiden further opined that defendant does not meet the Louisiana definition of mental retardation, because he was never diagnosed as mentally retarded before age 18. Moreover, even assuming that defendant's 1994 brain injury, impacted his IQ, that would mean that before the injury (which occurred when defendant was age 32), his IQ would have been even higher. Thus, it's impossible that prior to the age of 18, he would have had an IQ that would have been in the range of mental retardation. Moreover, the jury heard defendant's own account of his actions after the murder, where he washed the blood from the drinking glass and the knife he used to kill Mrs. Brinson, and he disabled the kitchen telephone. Such organized behavior to cover his tracks, suggests a level of intellectual awareness of right from wrong, and could have formed the basis for the jury to determine that defendant's adaptive skills were not retarded. Furthermore, two experts, one for the defense and one for the state, testified that defendant's 1994 traumatic brain injury did not result in brain damage. Dr. Wheeler and Dr. Seiden opined that the 1994 head injury did not result in any mental capacity dysfunction. Under these circumstances, appellate counsel's argument that defendant qualifies as mentally retarded due to the traumatic brain injury is without merit. Likewise, counsel's argument that Louisiana's definition violates the defendant's Equal Protection rights because it arbitrarily sets the age of 18 as the onset requirement is rendered moot without any evidence whatsoever that the 1994 head injury caused defendant to have, so-called, adult-onset mental retardation. Defendant's school records do not support defendant's contention of mental retardation and his test scores, as fully presented to the jury, were similarly unpersuasive because of substantial questions raised about malingering. Consequently, the jury decided that defendant did not carry his burden of proof to establish by preponderance of evidence that he suffered from mental retardation to render him exempt from capital punishment under Atkins. LSA-C.Cr.P. art. 905.5.1. Thus, by its unanimous verdict, defendant's jury found that he was not mentally retarded. Defendant's contentions of mental retardation are without merit.