Opinion ID: 2796228
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Dr. Reschly

Text: ¶19. Dr. Reschly testified that he has studied the psychology of intellectual disability since 1967. He specialized in school psychology, and he testified that school psychologists “are responsible for more diagnoses in [intellectual disability] than any other psychological or medical specialty.” He testified that, for twenty years, he has been active in the American Psychological Association Division 33, a division devoted to developmental disabilities and intellectual disabilities. He taught psychology programs at the University of Arizona and Iowa State University. Dr. Reschly testified that, in the course of his work, he supervises counseling psychologists who evaluate individuals for intellectual disability. He testified that he has evaluated individuals for intellectual disability on numerous occasions and has presented several papers to the American Psychological Association on the question of intellectual disability in death penalty cases. ¶20. Dr. Reschly relied on the testing performed at the state hospital and by Dr. Perry to 13 find that Chase met the intellectual-functioning prong of the test for intellectual disability. He also found that Chase had significant limitations in adaptive functioning that manifested prior to age eighteen. Dr. Reschly expressed his findings in terms of the 2010 AAIDD definition of intellectual disability and found that Chase had significant limitations in the conceptual, social, and practical domains. But he also testified that, under the 2002 definitions, Chase was deficient in seven areas: communication, self-direction, functional academics, work, social/interpersonal skills, use of community resources, and safety. To reach these conclusions, Dr. Reschly relied on Chase’s school records from the Hazlehurst Public Schools, the 2010 Mississippi State Hospital Report, Dr. Perry’s 1989 report, Chase’s social security records, his driver’s license records, testimony from Chase’s trial, and interviews with Chase’s teachers, relatives, and friends who knew him prior to age eighteen.
¶21. Dr. Reschly stated that “poor and failing school performance prior to age 18 is a significant indicator of significant limitations in the conceptual skills domain.” He identified a downward trend in Chase’s grades from first to tenth grade. Chase’s school records show that he performed above average from the first through fourth grades, showed some decline in the fifth grade, and began performing below average in the sixth grade. He repeated the tenth grade and dropped out of school before completing his second year in tenth grade. Dr. Reschly stated that this downward trend in grades is “frequently seen with persons with mental retardation due to the increasingly abstract nature of the school curriculum and academic demands.” 14 ¶22. Chase’s ninth-grade science teacher, Ida Minor, his civics teacher, Foster Topp, and his sister-in-law, Sita Johnson, all said that they saw Chase daily and that he had been very slow to learn and to apply abstract information. Topp said Chase was among the lowest students in his class. Chase’s middle-school girlfriend, Sandra Adams, and Shirley Norrells, the mother of Chase’s high-school girlfriend, Deborah Norrells, said that Chase was exceptionally slow and needed assistance with his homework. According to Dr. Reschly’s investigation, Hazlehurst Public Schools did not have special education services during the period that Chase was in school from 1975 to 1985. ¶23. Dr. Reschly found that Chase had language deficits. He found from his interview with Chase that he “produced verbal language at a very high rate, but frequently was repetitive, rambling, directionless, and without clear purpose.” He opined that Chase frequently did not understand his own statements, could not organize his thoughts logically, and jumped from one topic to another in the same sentence. Dr. Reschly provided several examples of these sentences, including, “My sister, you gotta catch her, she works all the time, like a kangaroo,” “One of my teachers called my mother, she said she was pleased with my progress in school but didn’t like the girl,” and, asked what he learned in the Job Corps, Chase stated “welding . . . I started in culinary arts and business administration but once again, chasing girls, got lured into welding.” Dr. Reschly found these and other statements “either illogical or patently untrue.” He also found that Chase did not understand his culpability for the capital murder, which showed abstract thinking deficits. He interviewed Jerome Cleveland, who had played football with Chase. Cleveland said that, while Chase was a fast and successful football 15 player, he had been too intellectually slow to follow the plays. ¶24. Dr. Reschly noted that several persons he interviewed said that Chase often told “wildly improbable” stories and often misunderstood normal conversations. Dr. Reschly found Chase’s statement that he had been expelled from school for having sex on campus to be untrue because Minor said that had never happened and if it had, the teachers would have known. Dr. Reschly also found Chase’s statement that, at age twelve, while trying to dunk a basketball, he had hit his head on the basketball rim so hard he had passed out, to be untrue because it was implausible. He stated that Chase also gave incredible explanations for leaving employment, such as a fear of snakes, intolerance of cold weather, excessive heat, and a sexual liaison. Dr. Reschly stated that his interviews indicated that the real reason Chase had left these jobs was his incompetence, and Chase’s incredible explanations were an attempt to pass as normal, which is indicative of intellectual disability. ¶25. Addressing reading and writing skills, Dr. Reschly found that Chase had scored in the twentieth percentile on several achievement tests administered during his childhood and adult years. He opined that these scores rendered him functionally literate, but that they conflicted with the observations of those around Chase. Dr. Reschly said that several observers claimed Chase could not do his own homework and could not read well enough to understand simple directions, such as those on a box of macaroni and cheese. Nonetheless, Dr. Reschly found that “Chase has a relative strength, for a person with mental retardation, in reading and writing.” On cross-examination, he stated that Chase’s reading and writing skills were not at the level typically found with intellectual disability. But he stated that Chase’s functional 16 literacy does not rule out intellectual disability, and that persons with intellectual disability “are expected to have strengths and weaknesses.” ¶26. Dr. Reschly also found Chase deficient in money, time, and number concepts. Chase’s mother said that Chase did not understand money. Johnson, who knew him from ages twelve through fourteen, said that he did not understand money and could not tell time accurately. Dr. Reschly noted Chase’s statement in his interview that he did not trust banks with his money. Dr. Reschly stated that Chase could not understand the seven-percent sales tax. He opined that Chase’s difficulty telling time contributed to his chronic lateness and missed appointments in middle and high school.
¶27. Dr. Reschly found that Chase had significant limitations in the area of social skills caused by his intellectual limitations. He found that Chase made ineffective attempts to fit in, was heavily dependent on a benefactor for social guidance, and was naive, gullible, and frequently exploited by others. While Chase attempted to fit in with peers by telling tall stories, he seemed oblivious to his peers’s negative reactions to his tall stories, had trouble following the gist of conversations, and repeated others’ ideas. Dr. Reschly described this behavior as an attempt to pass as normal. His teachers, Minor and Johnson, said that Chase did not interact normally with other children and often befriended younger children. Dr. Reschly opined that Chase had befriended younger children in order to better understand the social interaction and that this was characteristic of intellectual disability. Shirley Norrells said that Chase rarely interacted with other boys visiting her home. Chase’s mother and 17 Shirley both recalled that Chase’s girlfriend Deborah had controlled Chase, including during social interactions and daily activities. Dr. Reschly stated that Chase confirmed that he had few friends as a child and never had a best friend. Dr. Reschly opined this history was consistent with intellectual disability, because most intellectually disabled persons have “inadequate social skills and limited interactions with normal peers.” ¶28. Dr. Reschly found that Chase exhibited deficits in social responsibility; he was chronically late; he could not complete his homework; and he could not reliably purchase items from a grocery list. Topp, Chase’s civics teacher, said that Chase’s failing grade in his class showed that he was “really, really low” and could not understand his rights and responsibilities as a citizen. Dr. Reschly also found a deficit in social responsibility from the fact that Chase may have fathered a child out of wedlock. On cross-examination, Dr. Reschly admitted that this finding was based on his own moral judgment that fathering a child out of wedlock showed an adaptive behavior deficit. ¶29. Dr. Reschly found that Chase had a deficit in self-esteem, because he was excessively dependent on others who made fun of him because he was slow and unskilled. He found that Chase was highly dependent on others, especially Deborah and Shirley Norrells, to make decisions for him, and that the Norrells had acted as “benefactors,” who are persons critical to the coping skills of an intellectually disabled person. He noted that Chase’s statement that, if only he had gone to Deborah’s house on the morning of the crime as Deborah had asked him to do, he never would have gotten into trouble. ¶30. Dr. Reschly found that Chase was gullible and easily led by others. Adams and 18 Johnson said that other children often cheated or tricked Chase out of the money his mother gave him. Adams also said that, unlike the other boys his age that she had dated, Chase was “slow and backward” sexually and that she had to teach him about kissing and light petting. Dr. Reschly found that this description contrasted significantly with Chase’s elaborate tales of sexual conquest. ¶31. Regarding following rules and obeying laws, Chase’s mother informed Dr. Reschly that Chase was much slower to follow directions than other children and needed increased supervision and direct guidance. Dr. Reschly noted that Chase also had abused a wide range of illegal drugs beginning at age twelve or thirteen and also had committed legal violations during his teen years. Dr. Reschly found that Chase’s compliance with rules was greatly dependent on Deborah; Chase admitted in his interview that Deborah had “helped [him] decide things and kept [him] out of trouble.”
¶32. Dr. Reschly found that Chase had severe adaptive behavior limitations in the practical skills domain and “likely cannot care for himself competently nor support himself economically or maintain himself in the community as a respectable citizen.” He found particularly significant Chase’s statement that, if he was released from prison, he would want to live with his mother but, if she had already passed away, he would want to stay in prison because he needed someone to take care of him. ¶33. Regarding daily living activities, Chase’s mother said that Chase had been more difficult than other children to accomplish developmental milestones such as toilet training. 19 Chase’s mother said he could cook a little. Persons recalled that Chase’s mother still picked out his clothes in high school. Chase stated that he washes his clothes in his prison cell toilet because he believes the prison laundry service is dirty, and Dr. Reschly found this action to be lacking in reason and judgment. Further, Chase reported that he had not slept for several days except for one nap, which Dr. Reschly found to be impossible. Dr. Reschly found that Chase’s statement that he removes salt from noodles by running water over them was incredible. Overall, Dr. Reschly found Chase’s daily living skills to be a mix of some good habits, good grooming, and cleanliness, along with some bad habits. ¶34. Dr. Reschly also found deficiencies in Chase’s occupational skills. Social security records showed that Chase had may different employers and that his employment generally was short-term. Marshall Gordon, Chase’s peer in middle school and high school, told Dr. Reschly that Chase had been unable to use tools competently in industrial arts class such as a hammer, handsaw, and chisel. Chase watched others work but completed no projects of his own and did not receive credit for the course. From this, Dr. Reschly concluded that Chase had very poor spatial relations. Shirley stated that Chase could not change a light bulb. Chase’s mother and Johnson recalled that Chase soon was dismissed from his few jobs because he could not do the work or could not manage the social demands of the workplace. Dr. Reschly stated that Chase told unbelievable stories about the reasons for his dismissal from jobs, and he “strongly suspect[ed]” that Chase had lost these jobs due to incompetence. ¶35. Dr. Reschly said that Chase did not understand or appropriately handle money because Chase said he did not trust banks and would rather hold his money himself, because Chase’s 20 mother had left money for him daily, and because others reported that Chase could not handle money and frequently lost his money when other kids cheated him. Also, Chase has never paid rent, and he told Dr. Reschly that he cannot keep track of his prison commissary expenses. ¶36. Dr. Reschly found that Chase’s safety and health care skills were deficient because he will not take the prescribed medication for his high blood pressure, stating that he does not “want to become dependent.” Dr. Reschly also concluded that Chase “was significantly delayed and deficient in acquiring and using skills related to travel and transportation.” He found that Chase had never had a driver’s license because, although Chase claimed to have been issued a South Carolina driver’s license, there was no record of it and Chase’s description of obtaining the license was suspicious. And Shirley testified that Chase had been unmotivated to drive and had been completely dependent on others for transportation to his various jobs and during his school years. Because others reported that Chase was chronically late and could make appointments only with Deborah’s assistance, Dr. Reschly concluded that Chase was deficient in the area of schedules and routines. He noted that Chase had no trouble using the telephone.