Forensic psychologist: “Just because you behave badly in the community doesn’t mean you’re going to commit violent acts in prison,.”
By JOE GYAN JR.
The Advocate
BATON ROUGE, La. — Two brain scans from suspected serial killer Sean Vincent Gillis show abnormalities consistent with scans from people with schizophrenia, a neuropsychologist testified Tuesday during the penalty phase of Gillis’ capital murder trial.
University of Pennsylvania professor Ruben Gur said he was asked by the defense to interpret the results of the MRI and PET scans but was not asked to personally examine Gillis.
MRI stands for magnetic resonance imaging and PET stands for positron emission tomography.
Testifying about the results of the MRI test taken in early April, Gur said he suspects Gillis also suffered a traumatic brain injury - or injuries - at some point in his life.
“It’s not just schizophrenia,’' he told defense attorney Steven Lemoine.
Gur testified the MRI test on Gillis’ brain showed a larger than normal brain. However, several areas of his brain - including the part that helps evaluate threats - are smaller than normal, he testified.
In regard to the PET scan results, Gur likened Gillis’ brain to a car with an engine that is “easily revved’’ but with brakes that have a difficult time stopping the car.
Gillis was convicted Friday of first-degree murder in the February 2004 strangulation and mutilation of 43-year-old Donna Bennett Johnston of Baton Rouge. He now faces either death by lethal injection or life in prison.
Johnston’s nude body was found off Ben Hur Road south of LSU.
Authorities say Gillis has confessed to killing eight south Louisiana women between 1994 and 2004 and has been booked in seven of those deaths. A probe into the eighth slaying is ongoing.
Gur testified Gillis’ PET scan resembles the brain of a person with seizure disorders.
“It makes me believe we’re dealing with more than schizophrenia,’' he said. “It would fit with what we see with head injuries, and probably more than one.’'
Gur later went on to say, “I’m convinced we’re dealing with a brain that had abnormalities to begin with.’'
Gillis’ defense team is trying to persuade the jury to spare his life and sentence the 46-year-old Baton Rouge man to life in prison. The prosecution is seeking the death penalty.
State District Judge Bonnie Jackson told jurors she hopes they can begin deliberating Gillis’ fate later today.
“We are almost at the end,’' Jackson said. The trial began July 21. The jury has been sequestered since then.
In testimony earlier Tuesday, Redemptorist High School teacher Robert Bumm, who taught Gillis for one year before he graduated in 1980, said Gillis never caused him any trouble.
Bumm, though, said Gillis was kicked out of a female teacher’s class for calling the woman a profane name.
Bumm remembered Gillis as a “Star Trek” fan who mostly kept to himself.
“I never noticed he had a lot of friends, because he was different,’' Bumm said.
Lemoine began the day by presenting the jury with Parish Prison reports and records showing Gillis has had no violent incidents behind bars since his arrest in April 2004.
Prosecutor Prem Burns pointed out that Gillis has been kept out of the regular prison population and has had little chance to interact with other inmates.
Forensic psychologist Thomas Reidy then testified that convicted murderers are no more problematic in prison than other offenders.
“Just because you behave badly in the community doesn’t mean you’re going to commit violent acts in prison,’' he said.
Reidy performs “violence risk assessments’’ of prison populations.
His work deals with statistical analysis and probability. Reidy testified that, given Gillis’ age, lack of a prior criminal record and lack of involvement in violent acts during his more than four years in prison, the probability of him committing violent acts in prison is very low.
Burns disputed Reidy’s assertion that Gillis had no previous criminal history, telling him that she has presented evidence in the penalty phase linking Gillis to the murders of two other Baton Rouge women - 30-year-old Katherine Hall in 1999 and 45-year-old Johnnie Mae Williams in 2003.
Reidy also testified that since 1933, only four Louisiana prison staff members have been killed by inmates - the last occurring in 1999.
Burns made note of the December 1999 killing in which Louisiana State Penitentiary Capt. David Knapps was beaten and stabbed to death at Angola.
Burns told Reidy that the five Angola inmates accused in the slaying were serving life terms for murder and now face possible death sentences. She added that one of the implicated inmates, David Mathis, was serving a life term for strangling his grandmother.
Burns prosecuted Mathis in that case.
Burns asked Reidy if he could say that Gillis will not hurt or kill anyone again.
“Of course not,’' Reidy said. “Anything is possible.’'
Copyright 2008 Capital City Press