Opinion ID: 353179
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Psychiatric Examinations After the Plea: The Lubin and Kadar Reports

Text: 75 A psychiatric caseworker at Bellevue, Mr. Jacoby, interviewed Suggs four days after his plea, on September 17, 1968. His records evidence appellee's highly disturbed state, 21 noting that Suggs was sullen, somewhat withdrawn, and extremely infantile. Suggs avoided all eye contact and showed no emotion or guilt while relating the facts surrounding the alleged crimes he committed. His underlinging (sic) hostility, confusion, desorganization (sic) was manifest throught (sic) the course of (the) interview. His poor judgment and inability to control agressive (sic) impulses were evidential (sic) . . . . 76 Two days later, six days after the reference to Bellevue by Justice Nunez, Suggs was examined by Dr. Lubin, chief psychiatrist at the Bellevue Prison Ward, who without any knowledge of the Messinger report, of Suggs' medical history in the Rockland State Hospital records or of Suggs' suicide attempt six weeks before in August, 1968, still concluded that Suggs was incompetent. His tentative diagnosis from this first interview characterized Suggs' mental condition as schizoid with paranoid features. 22 Dr. Lubin viewed Suggs as a young sullen boy who sees circtumstances (sic) around him (in) a badly distorted fashion. 23 It appeared to him that petulance and anger played a role in Suggs' decision to plead guilty. He concluded by noting that appellee could be competent with the help of vigorous defense counsel. 24 He later elaborated on this notation at the hearing before Justice Melia, indicating that while Suggs was then incompetent to stand trial, he could perhaps be assisted to a state of cooperation where he might then be considered competent through the vigorous assistance of his attorney. 77 A second preliminary report date September 25, 1968, confirmed the doctor's earlier diagnosis. 25 The doctor's impression was schizophrenia, paranoid type. Again, Dr. Lubin noted that Suggs views the world in a totally distorted fashion, such that even the most innocuous stimuli lead to believed persecution. He found extant paranoid delusions reflected in Suggs' extreme suspiciousness, negativism, inability to communicate meaningfully and his predisposition to violence, as well as Suggs' rationalizations for the numerous rapes. 78 Dr. Lubin, in conjunction with Dr. Kadar, made a third examination of Suggs on October 21, 1968, resulting in a final report to the court which, in large part, summarizes the two preliminary reports. They first discuss appellee's history of behavior problems and prior treatment in various reformatory institutions. They note that while Suggs was claiming innocence at Bellevue, his ancillary history seems to indicate that he actually made specific and detailed admissions of (his criminal acts) and in a manner to communicate (to the court) that these activities were based on bizarre motivations and were possibly a function of mental disorder. The report concludes that Suggs sees things in a totally distorted fashion, has the psychosis of schizophrenia, paranoid type, and is in such a state of insanity as to be incapable of understanding the charge, proceedings, or making his defense. 26