Opinion ID: 2097592
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Superior Court Trial

Text: The acquittee was charged with first-degree murder, first-degree arson, several counts of felony assault and resisting arrest. In November 2004, acquittee was deemed incompetent to stand trial as a result of her mental illness; she was confined to the Eleanor Slater Hospital for treatment. On June 2, 2006, a justice of the Superior Court determined that Fuller-Balletta was competent to stand trial. A bench trial commenced on April 25, 2007. A state trooper and a firefighter testified. To establish her insanity defense, Fuller-Balletta relied on the expert testimony of Joseph Penn, M.D. (Dr. Penn), the director of the child and adolescent forensic psychiatry unit at Rhode Island Hospital. Doctor Penn conducted extensive interviews with acquittee and her family, examined medical records, and concluded that acquittee's mental functioning had been diminishing for two to three years before the fire. Both Dr. Penn and the state's expert witness, Barry Wall, M.D. (Dr. Wall), the director of Forensic Services at the Eleanor Slater Hospital, a state-run facility for the mentally ill, concluded that acquittee met the diagnostic criteria for bipolar disorder mixed episode with psychotic features. According to Dr. Penn, because of mental illness, Fuller-Balletta was unable to appreciate the wrongfulness of her behavior and conform her behavior [to the] requirements of the law[.] Doctor Wall agreed with Dr. Penn's diagnosis. It was his opinion that, due to her mental illness, Fuller-Balletta could not appreciate the wrongfulness of her conduct and lacked the ability to conform her actions to the requirements of the law. Based on these expert opinions, on May 25, 2007, the trial justice found Fuller-Balletta not guilty by reason of insanity. [3]