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Today’s Palo Alto Daily Post

Today’s Palo Alto Daily Post. “Suspect’s father said he “saw this coming”. Homeless Iraq vet with TBI and PTSD Four attempts at suicide past 2 years. Told father suicidal again . Father said go to VA. “Kidnapped” women, forcing her to drive him around. She escaped. He was arrested.

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Today’s Palo Alto Daily Post

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  1. Today’s Palo Alto Daily Post “Suspect’s father said he “saw this coming”. Homeless Iraq vet with TBI and PTSD Four attempts at suicide past 2 years. Told father suicidal again . Father said go to VA. “Kidnapped” women, forcing her to drive him around. She escaped. He was arrested.

  2. Trauma and the LawThe view from both sides Brain Stuff Dissociation Amnesia PTSDCase-in-Chief Sentence Mitigation Expert Witness People v. Cortes Harvey Dondershine, MD, JD Adjunct Clinical Professor Stanford School of Medicine hdonder@stanford.edu

  3. Brain Stress • Impact on neurodevelopment • Fast system and slow system • Impact of sudden threat on executive functions • “Weak” executive functions can’t control “hot” amygdala • Shift from top-down to bottom-up behavior regulation • Disinhibition of reactive aggression / reactive submission

  4. Dissociation • State, trait, or disorder • Horizontal or vertical • Acute stress dissociation • Phase 1 (over modulation) • Phase 2 (under modulation)

  5. Amnesia • Credible or convenient? • Impaired encoding vs. impaired retrieval? • Was person “dissociated” at the time, or only after? • Were actions while amnesic legally culpable? • Is it indicative of high stress, or more? • Is expert testimony admissible ?

  6. PTSD • Hides in plain site. • Arousal, cognition, threat perception, impulsivity, dissociation • Is the stressor corroborated • Did symptoms begin after? • Is there a more plausible explanation? • DSM V and the Law: the good, the bad, and the “so-what”

  7. BREAK

  8. Criminal Law: Case-in-Chief • A crime requires union of actus reus and mens rea • Mens rea - general intent • Mens rea - specific intent • Admissibility of expert testimony • CST - focus on trial skills • NGRI - focus on cognition • Mental state defense - Penal Code Sections 25, 28, and 29

  9. Criminal Law: Sentence Mitigation • Ethical issues • Post –conviction state court • Federal court – “5k2 departure” • Treatment Court

  10. Role of Expert Witness • Evidence must be relevant, probative, reliable • Judge decides admissibility - Jury decides weight given • Does jury need to know it? • Does jury need expert to understand it? • Is the witness an expert? Are his or her opinions reliable? • Standards for “qualifying”: before jury, 402 hearing

  11. People v. Cortez • The crime • The forensic assessment • The 402 hearing • Appellate reversal • How this changed the law?

  12. Light Reading • http://forensicpsychiatry.stanford.edu/PAU • http://forensicpsychiatry.stanford.edu/Forensic PTSD/

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