Opinion ID: 1036479
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Defense’s Mental Health Evidence

Text: After the State rested its case in the guilt phase, the defense called Dr. Donald Blanton as its sole witness in the guilt phase. The defense offered Dr. Blanton as a “certified psychometrist.”3 Dr. Blanton recounted his findings from his March 31, 2000 evaluation of Lee and battery of tests. Dr. Blanton testified that Lee scored an IQ of 67 on the WAIS-R, a score “in the middle range of mental retardation which is slightly below the second percentile nationally.” Dr. Blanton stated that meant “out of 100 people, 98 would have a higher I.Q. score than Mr. Lee on average nation[]wide.” Dr. Blanton also administered the Bender Visual-Motor Gestalt Test, a test performed to determine any “organic disturbances” between Lee’s “eyeballs and brain hookup.” On that test Lee did “fine.” Dr. Blanton also testified to Lee’s results on the Wide Range Achievement Test-Rephrased III, on which Lee scored at the sixth grade level in reading, the second grade level in arithmetic, and the second grade level in spelling. Dr. Blanton explained that Lee’s reading score indicated that “92 percent of people score better than what [Lee] had [scored] on his test.” As for Lee’s arithmetic 3 The State objected to the expert testimony of Dr. Blanton as immaterial. In response, Lee’s counsel emphasized that the defense sought to introduce Dr. Blanton’s testimony to “talk about his mental retardation” and to address “whether [Lee] knowingly gave the statement” to police. The state trial court overruled the State’s objection. 14 Case: 12-14421 Date Filed: 08/01/2013 Page: 15 of 128 score, Dr. Blanton stated it was “very low. That would mean that 99.7 percent of the people would score higher” than Lee on the same test. As for Lee’s significant substance abuse history, Dr. Blanton testified that Lee admitted to him that he had used marijuana on a daily basis for years, cocaine on a weekly basis, and drank alcohol “quite often too.” Dr. Blanton also testified that he performed “a number of other tests that [Lee] was unable to handle.” Dr. Blanton gave Lee the Beck Depression Inventory and Mental Status Examination “which is a psychological test that’s administered orally.” From that test Dr. Blanton concluded that Lee “was not psychotic and that he was having some depression secondary to his situation.” Dr. Blanton testified, though, that he did not believe Lee was malingering: “In this case, I didn’t feel [Lee] understood whether it would hurt him or not hurt him [to be deceptive in answering the questions].” On cross-examination, the State elicited testimony from Dr. Blanton that individuals in the “mild range of mental retardation” can function in society, and Dr. Blanton agreed to the prosecutor’s statement that these individuals can “[h]ave families, jobs, go to work, drive trucks, and that sort of thing.” But Dr. Blanton stated that “[l]ess than four percent” of the general population would fit into the mildly retarded category. The State also asked whether Lee would be able to perform well in school, to which Dr. Blanton replied that it “[d]epend[ed] on the 15 Case: 12-14421 Date Filed: 08/01/2013 Page: 16 of 128 school.”4