Opinion ID: 2552553
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Defendant's Birth and Early Childhood

Text: Defendant was born on July 16, 1974. Lawrence William Scott, M.D., the gynecologist and obstetrician who delivered him, testified that his birth was medically complicated and difficult, and he may have been born brain-damaged, though Dr. Scott was not concerned about defendant's neurological status at birth. Nor, according to the testimony of other witnesses, including Cartel' R. Wright, M.D., a pediatrician, was defendant's first year of life auspicious. He would not breast feed and failed to gain weight normally. Markita Thornton was distracted during defendant's early years by a chaotic lifestyle that included multiple boyfriends and alcohol and drug abuse. She turned defendant over to his maternal grandmother, Lois Thornton, for substantial amounts of parenting, including when she went to scavenge garbage cans in the neighborhood when defendant was young. Defendant was unmanageable in kindergarten and had to repeat the school year. Just before starting kindergarten, he was bitten by a dog, and he saw a psychiatrist to deal with the incident. The psychiatrist, Brian Paul Jacks, M.D., saw defendant beginning in January of 1980, treated him for a year and a half, and diagnosed him with depression, neurological problems, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). School records showed that at about age six defendant was diagnosed as having a behavioral disorder that resulted in recommendations that he be put in a special classroom and see the school psychologist once a week. Dr. Jacks saw defendant again in 1985, when he was about 10 or 11 years old, and reconfirmed his diagnoses of depression and ADHD.