Opinion ID: 2544290
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: January 2007 Mental Retardation Evidentiary Hearing

Text: In August 2005, less than one month after the initial evidentiary hearing, Kilgore filed an amendment to his postconviction motion, specifically amending claim VI and adding claim XXVIII, in response to this Court's promulgation of Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.203. The postconviction court appointed Dr. Hyman Eisenstein, who previously testified during the 2005 evidentiary hearing as an expert for the defense, and Dr. Michael Gamache as an expert for the State. The postconviction court held a second evidentiary hearing from January 22, 2007, through January 23, 2007. The defense presented the testimony of Dr. Eisenstein, Dr. Dee, and Katrina Mcnish (Capital Collateral Regional Counsel investigator). The State presented Dr. Michael Gamache. The testimony of these witnesses, along with selected testimony from the 2005 evidentiary hearing, addressed information relevant to the issue of mental retardation and to this appeal. The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) has been administered to Kilgore on six separate occasions. Kilgore received the following full-scale IQ scores: 76 (Dr. William KremperAugust 1989), 84 (Dr. CiotolaMarch 1990), 67 (Dr. DeeMarch 1994), 75 (Dr. Eisenstein August 2000), 74 (Dr. DeeOctober 2004), 85 (Dr. GamacheMay 2006). According to defense expert Dr. Eisenstein, the full-scale IQ scores of 74, 75, and 76 are likely most representative of Kilgore's actual IQ. The scores are in the same range and fall between the other three outliers and are significant to his ultimate opinion. Dr. Eisenstein administered a memory malingering test as part of the administration of the WAIS and produced results that, in Dr. Eisenstein's opinion, indicated that Kilgore was not trying to manipulate the results. Although the practice effect was likely an issue for each administration of the WAIS after the first, it was perhaps the most significant in Dr. Ciotola's administration due to its close proximity in time (six months) to the previous administration. In fact, Dr. Ciotola indicated in his report that Kilgore's score of 84 was likely affected by the practice effect. The experts opined that Dr. Dee's initial administration of the WAIS was not indicative of Kilgore's actual IQ. It is of great significance that through his testimony during the 2007 evidentiary hearing Dr. Dee himself discredited his initial administration of the exam. He explained that he was giving the WAIS as part of a neuropsychological evaluation, not as part of a mental retardation evaluation. In his view a full-scale administration was unnecessary. The defense experts opined that Dr. Gamache's administration of the WAIS did not appear to be a reliable score. First, as explained by Dr. Dee, the currently accepted practice is to administer the entire test during forensic evaluations. Dr. Gamache only administered a prorated version of the WAIS. Dr. Eisenstein also discredited Dr. Gamache's findings, opining that a prorated IQ, of course, is never as reliable as a full-scale IQ, which is now why the standard in forensic evaluation is to administer the entire test. The practice effect is also increasingly significant with each new administration of the exam, and that likely had an effect on Dr. Gamache's administration of the WAIS. Finally, at the time Dr. Gamache administered his WAIS, Kilgore had just entered the 55 plus category, which automatically increases the IQ score by five to six points simply because of one's age. Had Dr. Gamache administered the exam only a few months earlier, Kilgore's IQ score would have been a 79, even with all of the flaws associated with the administration. Dr. Eisenstein, an expert for the defense, testified that Kilgore met the criteria for mental retardation as defined by Florida statute. When asked if he reached the same conclusion, Dr. Dee said, Well, there is nothing that [Dr. Eisenstein] or I found that is inconsistent with that. Dr. Gamache did not believe that Kilgore met Florida's definition for mental retardation.