Opinion ID: 147525
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Psychological report and testimony of Dr. Smith

Text: In the habeas proceeding, Phillips submitted an evaluation from clinical psychologist Dr. Robert Smith. Smith was provided with the CSB records and wrote an initial opinion following two interviews of Phillips in 1995 and 1996. He also wrote a supplemental report based on a follow-up interview in 2004 and testified before the district court. Smith diagnosed Phillips as suffering from a mixed personality disorder with borderline and paranoid traits, and opined that Phillips might also suffer from bipolar or post-traumatic-stress disorder, although Phillips's refusal or inability to discuss certain subjects made him difficult to assess. In his initial written report, Smith noted that Phillips displayed a level of defensiveness [that] is indicative of severe family dysfunction and an abusive background. Smith's administration of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 test resulted in his conclusion that [i]t is likely that [Phillips] suffers from either a severe personality disorder, bipolar disorder, or schizophrenia. He reiterated in the conclusion of the report: It is believed that Mr. Phillips suffers from a severe psychological disorder beyond his personality disorder, such as bipolar disorder or post traumatic stress disorder. Dr. Smith testified that Dr. Brown's prior determination that Phillips did not suffer from a mental illness or disorder was due to Brown's lack of awareness of the true history of Phillips's life. Phillips admitted to Smith that he had been physically abused by his father. Phillips stated to Smith that, among other things, his father punched the children in the face and frequently hit them with little or no provocation. Phillips himself ran away from home on several occasions to avoid his father's wrath. Phillips also stated that his parents paid for their houses with the proceeds of drug sales and purchased shoplifted food, clothing, and household items from their drug customers. He informed Smith that prostitution was common on the street in front of his childhood home and that he was exposed to drug use and sexual activity from a young age as a result of parties his parents regularly held at their house. Smith concluded that Phillips' home was surrounded by crime and violence [and his] family was enmeshed in this criminal element and served as role models for violent attacks and criminal activities. Dr. Smith was of the opinion that Phillips was sexually abused as a child, although Phillips never admitted it. He stated that childhood abuse is the hallmark of those who develop borderline personality disorder, and that [Phillips] had the same code of silence that the other [Phillips] children had[,] [and Phillips's] feelings of guilt and shame were very evident. Smith opined in his report that Phillips' misplaced loyalty to his family prevented him from sharing openly the extent of the abuse he endured. This protection of family secrets is common among children of abuse. They tend to blame themselves for the abuse the[y] suffer and fail to recognize that the behavior of their parents is abusive and inappropriate. . . . The difficulties Mr. Phillips has experienced with his interpersonal relationships, especially his sexual relations, strongly suggest that he was the victim of sexual abuse. The research has identified several characteristics of victims of sexual abuse (e.g., feelings of guilt and shame, difficulty with impotence, confusion about the role of sexenmeshed with sadistic and masochistic behavior). Mr. Phillips reported many of these behaviors. Smith also testified that it is common for men, even well into adulthood, to deny sexual abuse, noting especially that such men fear being victims of future sexual abuse by other perpetrators and fear that other men within the prison environment may view [them] as open to various sexual activities and that they may take advantage of that. Smith connected Phillips's childhood experiences to his personality disorder, and, in turn, to his crime. He testified: If we take Ronald's background and look at his family, what we have is ongoing history of violence, criminal activity, both by father, mother, and siblings. We know that the household is involving [sic] alcohol and drug abuse. We know there's drugs being sold out of the home. We know there's physical and sexual abuse going on. As a child, you're watching all of that, you're trying to formulate what does all this mean. For borderlines [ i.e., those with borderline personality disorder], the problem is that they are not sure what it means. . . . What they end up doing is reacting in a sort of survival way to their environment and they often misinterpret and overreact because of the dysfunction they experience so they become reactionary, overly aggressive. . . . [I]f you think about Ronald's background and what he knows about parenting, the only role models he has had are his mother and father, both physically abusive [] as long as he can remember and it didn't m[at]ter the age or sex of the child or what the child was doing, the response was always the same. Always physical violence. Smith stated his belief in his initial report that Mr. Phillips's disorders were directly related to the instant offense. In his testimony, he elaborated, explaining that [a]n individual with borderline personality disorder has misperceptions all the time, misperceptions about themselves, [their] abilities and their role and misperceptions about other people and their relationships. Smith opined that Phillips misperceived Sheila's conduct and reacted as follows: [a child who is] not listening, not obeying, not responding, ignoring, becomes a sense of this is a threat to me as a person because I'm telling you, and I'm the authority, I'm the adult, you should respond and when you don't, what happened in my household is you get popped, you get punched, slapped, hit, you get beat because you do what you're told to do. Smith also offered testimony about why Phillips was capable of raping Sheila. He testified that Phillips's borderline personality disorder inclined him toward both anger and a willingness to engage in deviant sexual activities encouraged by Evans: [Evans] is seven years older than [Phillips] is and is clearly the more mature person. Ronald is still living at home, still attending high school, has had really no ongoing sexual relationship and becomes involved with [Evans] who, as he described it, is very very, intriguing but he's sort of uncomfortable and confused and frightened by some of the things she suggests, like sex with her sister and sex with her cousin. He doesn't denies [sic] he's aroused or finds it sexually interesting, but he's still confused and ashamed and doesn't know what is right and wrong. She reassures him and takes on a maternal role. They develop a sexual relationship. She becomes pregnant and they now are forming this sort of very dysfunctional relationship. He explained that Evans then encouraged Phillips to begin molesting and eventually rape Sheila: [Phillips] indicated [that Evans] encouraged him to have physical contact [with Sheila]. I don't know if he saw it as sexual originally. . . . [A]s he described it, she would fondle him as he would touch Sheila so that would be arousing. . . . It's very unfortunate, but in working with [homeless, chemically dependent, and mentally ill women], we know that a number of the women, because of their own backgrounds, their own history of being physically and sexually abused, find various inappropriate behavior very arousing and many of the women will admit that they have sexually abused the[ir] children themselves, or observed their partner or encouraged their partner to be sexually abusive. Dr. Smith testified that a clear connection existed between Phillips' abusive life in his parents' home, his resulting personality disorder, his violent and sexually deviant relationship with Evans, and, eventually, his crime.