Opinion ID: 353179
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Suggs' Preindictment History

Text: 19
20 John Suggs evidently was born in New York in June of 1951, is black and has lived in New York City all of his life. Much of his personal history is unclear in the lengthy but still incomplete record that ten years of legal proceedings have produced. 4 The record vividly reveals an unstable home environment, devoid of parental supervision and attention. From his birth appellee was shuttled back and forth between his mother 5 and his aunt. 6 21 Suggs was an habitual truant from school, usually riding subways or wandering in parks. In early childhood he exhibited unusual behavior. On several occasions he set fire to newspapers in the house, but ordinarily notified the fire department shortly after starting the blaze. His aunt also reported that he set fire to furniture in her home, and that he once killed a parakeet by pulling off the bird's head. 22
23 Suggs was referred to the Wiltwyck School for Boys (Wiltwyck) at the age of ten, originally by the Manhattan Children's Court on a delinquency petition following a burglary incident in which he was implicated. The petition was changed to a neglect petition after investigation uncovered the obvious parental neglect. 24 His behavior problems continued unabated. When his mother died about a month after his admission, Suggs evidently became obsessed with the idea that the children in his dormitory were responsible for her death. In retribution he set fire to the dormitory, but did so where it would be found and no one would be hurt. On another occasion he was found packing dirt into the exhaust of a truck used to transport the children with the aim of blowing it up. At some point he became convinced that he too was responsible for his mother's death. While still at Wiltwyck, approximately at the age of eleven, he attempted suicide by drinking mercury from a thermometer. According to the Wiltwyck records as subsequently set forth in the Rockland State Hospital (Rockland) files, Suggs' method of establishing friendship was to engage in assaultive conduct; there were numerous acts of hostility against other student-inmates as well as against teachers. The medical director, aware of the threat Suggs posed to himself and others, and unable to arrest Suggs' delusional thinking, finally suggested institutionalization at Rockland. 25 Suggs was admitted to Rockland in August of 1963. When he was initially examined by Dr. Katz, a psychiatrist, he appeared to have a normal intellectual level with orientation and memory intact. But Dr. Katz also noted Suggs' long history of auditory and visual hallucinations, his tendency toward obsessive, compulsive thinking with delusional and paranoid aspects and the severe impairment of Suggs' insight and judgment. The initial impression of the psychiatrist was that (t)here is much of a schizophrenic about this youngster but he is extremely emotionally deprived and now unable to accept any close relationship, although he verbalizes a desire for it. He concluded that Suggs may be ultimately a schizophrenic. 26 There was little change in Suggs' condition after admittance. Not long after he arrived at Rockland his ward was changed because he was fearful of attacks by other patients. He was later diagnosed as having primary behavior disorders in children. Conduct disturbance. 27 At the age of thirteen, in 1964, he left Rockland for the Thanksgiving holiday but did not return. In January, 1965, he was found in New York City, and after a psychiatric examination was placed on convalescent status, so that he could reside with his aunt while attending a neighborhood clinic. He was discharged in November, 1965, when it was learned that Suggs was in Warwick Training School (Warwick). 28 Suggs may have been sent to Warwick for having shot or stabbed his aunt's husband. Incidental to this commitment, he was examined in July of 1965, this time at Bellevue, apparently pursuant to a Children's Court order on another neglect petition, and possibly because of his failure to attend the aftercare clinic when placed on convalescent status at Rockland. He was initially diagnosed, despite his sunken, depressive attitude, as not psychotic at present, though evidencing a strong tendency in that direction. 7 A later report by a psychologist, Ms. Barron, referred to Suggs as a powderkeg about ready to explode, with feelings of inadequacy, helplessness and depression. She accurately predicted that under severe stress he would be unable to institute appropriate limits on his own behavior, and rage reactions are probable. She too felt that while he functions superficially in a reasonable fashion, he is at a borderline level of integration, and may regress rather rapidly under repeated tension or additional trauma. Her diagnostic impression was character disorder with paranoid and borderline features (passive-aggressive-aggressive type) with potential for schizophrenia. Because of his emotional instability and deprived home environment, Bellevue recommended another stay at training school. 29 At this point the already unclear record becomes further muddied. It appears that when Suggs was released from Warwick to his aunt, he attended Charles Evans Hughes High School for four or five months. There his difficulties continued as he apparently kidnapped a schoolmate for a period of four hours. The authorities then sent him to Hampton State Training School in April, 1967. The record of his behavior at Hampton and whether he was released or simply escaped is barren, but it is known that he left Hampton in April of 1968, at age sixteen. Ms. Barron's prediction of a powderkeg seems to have been quite accurate. 30