Opinion ID: 2518586
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Psychiatrist's testimony

Text: William Vicary, M.D., a forensic psychiatrist, interviewed defendant in jail several times and reviewed numerous records, including reports from a psychiatrist at the University of California, Los Angeles, and Psychologist Michael Maloney, in connection with defendant's case. Dr. Vicary agreed with the UCLA psychiatrist's opinion that defendant was suffering from manic depression, also known as bipolar disorder. Dr. Vicary believed defendant had a psychotic disorder characterized by paranoia, as well as symptoms of depression. In Dr. Vicary's opinion, defendant had been developing this disorder for the two to four years before the shootings and continued to suffer from it at the time, of trial. Dr. Vicary agreed with Dr. Maloney's conclusion that defendant was faking well, i.e., attempting to portray himself as mentally healthy, and did not believe defendant was malingering as to his bipolar symptoms. Dr. Vicary testified that defendant had a significant family history of mental illness, with nine relatives suffering from serious mental problems. Defendant's mother had suffered from a psychotic illness since her twenties, had attempted suicide and had been hospitalized for mental illness several times, and at the time of trial was committed to an institution. Defendant's older brother suffered from a psychotic mental illness and had been hospitalized. An uncle had committed suicide. A second cousin also had a psychotic mental illness and had committed suicide. Two paternal half-brothers had histories of alcohol abuse. Dr. Vicary testified that defendant's alcohol use exacerbated his mental illness. Persons with manic depression often use alcohol to self-medicate by mellowing out their agitation and anxiety, but because alcohol is a central nervous system depressant, in the long run it makes their symptoms worse. Dr. Vicary believed defendant was using alcohol in an unconscious effort to calm himself and, although alcohol did not cause defendant's psychosis, it made him more likely to act on the basis of his paranoid ideas. Dr. Vicary reported that defendant had become extremely interested in religion while incarcerated. Defendant spent virtually all of his time reading the Bible, and he tried to convert Dr. Vicary and his trial counsel to his religious beliefs. At first Dr. Vicary thought defendant's new interest in religion was that typical of jail inmates, but then saw that it was of such fervor and conviction, to the exclusion of virtually everything else, that it seemed to be part of his mental illness. Dr. Vicary acknowledged that defendant had lied to him, denying his involvement in the Perez and Ferguson shootings, although he had previously admitted responsibility to the UCLA psychiatrist. Defendant also lied to Dr. Vicary in his explanation of the shootings of Alcala and Layton. Dr. Vicary further acknowledged that financial problems, as well as mental illness, could cause agitation and that if defendant had been threatened by persons who had lent him money, he might have a rational rather than a paranoid reason for awakening with nightmares. Dr. Vicary testified that defendant was psychotic at the time of the shootings, which he believed were part of his agitation and his mental disorder, but over defense counsel's objection, Dr. Vicary acknowledged he did not believe defendant's mental illness provided the basis for a psychiatric defense.