Opinion ID: 78594
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Trial and Expert Testimony

Text: On April 12, 1992, Williams was indicted on two counts of capital murder. [2] During the trial on November 10, 1992, Williams testified that he did not remember all the events of February 14 and 15, 1992. Williams testified that he had a few beers with Ellzey, and then drank a pretty good bit of beer after she dropped him off at another club. At the club, he purchased three hits of LSD for seven dollars ($7) each from someone he did not know and remembered taking two of them. Williams testified that he did not remember killing anyone. He only recalls that he went into the bathroom, and that he began to feel very scared. He said that he saw the walls move, and he saw a larger-than-life apparition walking towards him that made him fear for his life. Regarding the day of the killings, Williams further testified that he began flipping out even before he called Ellzey, and that he tried to disguise his drug use from her to keep her from getting angry with him. He testified that he did not remember anything that occurred between the time that he dialed her number and when he found himself driving a van in Mississippi a day later. However, Williams did not mention seeing the apparition to the Mississippi or Alabama law enforcement officers with whom he spoke on February 16. Williams did tell the officers that he did not remember killing anyone the night before. Williams said that he remembered seeing blood on his pants and throwing the rifle in the water near the bridge. Dr. Claude L. Brown, a psychiatrist, met with Williams in August 1992. At trial, Dr. Brown testified for the defense. His testimony was based on his meetings with Williams. He diagnosed Williams with borderline personality disorder (BPD), which he testified is a mental disorder characterized by inner emptiness, dissatisfaction, and impulsive actions undertaken in an effort to feel better, such as suicide attempts. Persons with BPD have limited, but intense, fluctuating relationships. He testified that individuals with BPD can be thrown into psychotic behavior by increases in anxiety from any source. Dr. Brown testified that Williams' BPD dated to his childhood and was unrelated to his use of drugs before the murders. Dr. Brown also testified that LSD is, per weight, the most psychogenic drug in the world. He testified that LSD causes frightening distortions and detachment from realityi.e., psychosis. Furthermore, using alcohol and cocaine with LSD exaggerates these responses. Dr. Brown opined that Williams was psychotic at the time of the killings. He further opined that Williams was suffering from a mental disease or defect that rendered him unable to appreciate the nature and quality or wrongfulness of his acts. He opined that this destructive psychosis resulted from a combination of his preexisting personality structure acted upon by the heavy overload of drugs that he had been taking all night. Lastly, he opined that Williams' BPD in and of itself probably did not trigger his conduct and that, had Williams been sober, the murders probably would not have occurred. Dr. Harry McClaren, a psychologist, testified for the State. He also diagnosed Williams with BPD, as well as with anti-social personality disorder and substance abuse. Dr. McClaren testified that, given Williams' account of his drug and alcohol ingestion, he was very intoxicated at the time of the killings. He testified that psychosis resulting from LSD can last from eight to twelve hours and that Williams' amnesia was probably chemically induced. He also testified that when some individuals are highly intoxicated from hallucinogenic drugs, they may display some symptoms of psychosis. Dr. McClaren testified to meeting Williams in August and September 1992. During those sessions, Williams recounted the events of the night before the killings. Dr. McClaren testified that Williams told him that he had a few drinks with Ellzey. After she dropped him off at the club, he bought three hits of LSD. He also ingested a long, purple tablet, and drank whiskey over the course of the evening. He also told Dr. McClaren that he went to a house on Dixon's Corner where, in two trips, he bought crack. [3] He remembered arguing with Ellzey on the phone and that he then began to flip out and feel frightened. He claimed that he heard someone holler his name and felt like everyone was against him. He told Dr. McClaren that he thought the only way out was to shoot his way out. Williams claimed again that he had no other memories before he found himself driving the van in Mississippi. Dr. McClaren testified that when someone has taken LSD, he or she may see distortions of things that are there. In contrast to Dr. Brown, Dr. McClaren opined that, because Williams deliberately shot each victim twice in or near the head, Williams was able to appreciate the wrongfulness of his acts. Dr. McClaren further opined that, because Williams had no significant psychiatric history other than attempted suicide, he knew the wrongfulness of his acts. Dr. McClaren testified that since the drugs and alcohol exacerbated Williams' BPD, without the intoxication, Williams probably would not have killed Gerald Paravicini or Linda, Freddie, and Bryan Barber. On November 11, 1992, the jury returned a guilty verdict on one count of intentional murder during the course of a robbery for the deaths of Freddie Barber and Linda Barber pursuant to Code of Alabama § 13A-5-40(a)(2). [4] The jury also returned a guilty verdict for the capital offense of intentional murder for the deaths of Gerald Paravicini, Freddie Barber, Linda Barber, and Bryan Barber pursuant to Code of Alabama § 13A-5-40(a)(10). [5] The jury recommended, by a 102 vote, that a death sentence be imposed for the murder convictions. On December 1, 1992, the State trial court sentenced Williams to a punishment of death.