Opinion ID: 2681345
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Francis Crinella, Ph.D.

Text: Clinical psychologist Francis Crinella interviewed defendant and reviewed the results of various neuropsychological examinations. In his opinion, defendant suffered from hypoxia at the time of his birth, likely as a result of his mother‘s two car accidents, and the hypoxia resulted in a number of medical and psychological problems that persisted throughout his life. He scored a 75 on the verbal part of the intelligence quotient (IQ) test and a 76 on the performance part of the test, for a full-scale IQ score of 74, which Dr. Crinella characterized as indicating borderline mental retardation. Defendant appeared to be out of touch with reality, and he had little imagination and extremely poor judgment. He had little ability to contemplate future events and poor adaptive behavior overall. Dr. Crinella identified defendant as a ―moral imbecile,‖ or a person with very primitive moral judgment. Dr. Crinella acknowledged on cross-examination that some facts undermined the view that defendant was intellectually disabled, including his general ability to take care of himself, his extensive work history (without any termination for incompetence), his attendance at college-level business management courses, and the absence of any observable abnormalities in a scan of his brain. Defendant told Dr. Crinella that he started using illegal drugs when he was 16 years old and that he associated with gang members. Defendant never told Dr. Crinella that he had shot Gonzales while acting under duress.