Opinion ID: 3052709
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Ben McNitt

Text: Ben McNitt, a former Tucson Citizen reporter, covered parts of McMurtrey’s trial for the newspaper. McNitt testified that he spoke to McMurtrey on the phone and that although he tried to probe McMurtrey for his feelings about the incident and the victims, McMurtrey “seemed emotionally disengaged” and unable to offer “a normal emotional response on any level.” McNitt had spoken to hundreds of criminal defendants during his ten years as a reporter in Arizona, but he found McMurtrey’s level of “detachment” unusual. The only time that McNitt saw McMurtrey speak in person was at the sentencing hearing. McNitt explained his impression of McMurtrey’s behavior in the courtroom as follows: “I have a very clear recollection that my first impression was that he appeared glazed. His eyes appeared glazed. Almost like someone who had just, you know, you just wake up and are still sort of partly asleep.”