Opinion ID: 1427436
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: Dr. John LaWall

Text: Dr. LaWall was the only expert to testify at the 1994 hearing who had examined McMurtrey prior to trial. At the hearing, Dr. LaWall reiterated his earlier opinion that McMurtrey had been competent to stand trial. He noted that the surviving medical records did not indicate whether most of the medications prescribed were actually taken by McMurtrey. Dr. LaWall stated that high doses of the drugs prescribed to McMurtrey could produce cognitive impairment, memory impairment, poor concentration, and so on. He stated that the medications could have a less predictable effect on a volatile person. Dr. LaWall also noted that several of the doses prescribed in the jail medical records were unusual and that Elavil and Librium combined would produce greater sedation than either one taken alone. In his view, [i]t would be inappropriate ... for a person to be taking more than one of these particular drugs at the same time, and that prescribing Valium, Dalmane, and Ativan simultaneously was not rational pharmacology. Like the other experts who testified, Dr. LaWall reviewed police reports, transcripts, and medical records to assess McMurtrey's competency at the time of trial. Dr. LaWall stated that he relied on information provided by the police and on testimony by McMurtrey only if it did not tend to be exculpatory and discredited statements made by McMurtrey's counsel about McMurtrey's appearance and ability to assist with his defense: You know, I don't care what his counsel says. His counsel can say anything. Finally, Dr. LaWall stated that it would have been easier to determine McMurtrey's competency at trial if he had examined McMurtrey closer to the date of trial. He conceded that the drugs prescribed to McMurtrey could have rendered him mentally incompetent, even if McMurtrey was not mentally ill, but that after March, Dr. LaWall did not examine him again until after the trial in August, and there was no way for me to know what exactly he was taking at that time.