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State v. Flake8/5/2003
of his conduct in shooting the victims.
On cross-examination Dr. Linder conceded that despite ten years of prior mental health treatment, the defendant had not been diagnosed as schizophrenic or reported auditory hallucinations prior to his arrest. Dr. Linder indicated that the defendant had admitted past drug abuse and claimed that he never thought to mention hearing voices until he was arrested because he believed everyone heard the voices. Dr. Linder further indicated that the defendant gave varied reports on when the voices began, at one point saying it began more than two years earlier and at another point saying it began in early adolescence. Dr. Linder also acknowledged that the defendant tested positive for amphetamines when he was admitted to Western in November of 1998 and that no follow-up tests were performed to determine if the result was a false positive. Dr. Linder further agreed that the defendant sometimes falls asleep in group meetings and that drugs such as Haldol and Zyprexa, if overprescribed, can cause a patient to sleep excessively. Finally, Dr. Linder agreed that, when observed, the defendant's affect was blunted to flat and his mood was unhappy and depressed, but when he was interacting, the defendant's affect was moderately blunted to broad and his mood was normal. Furthermore, Dr. Linder acknowledged that the defendant participated in recreational activities at Western, that he enjoyed the bus rides where patients are driven through and around Bolivar, but that he did not enjoy or participate in the dances, where male and female patients danced together.
The defendant's final expert witness was Dr. John Hutson, a clinical psychologist hired by the defendant's family, who met with the defendant in the Shelby County Jail on April 8, 1997, three days after the shootings. Dr. Hutson said he initially was struck by the defendant's impeccable, "male model" appearance, which is not typical of incarcerated, mentally ill individuals. Nevertheless, Dr. Hutson said the defendant had a flat affect and was reluctant to speak with him because of instructions from defense counsel to remain silent. The defendant freely spoke with Dr. Hutson only after his attorney instructed him to do so, but according to Dr. Hutson, the defendant's thoughts were disorganized. Dr. Hutson reviewed the records of the defendant's ten-year history of psychiatric treatment, including in-patient treatment, and talked with some of the defendant's treating psychologists and psychiatrists. Dr. Hutson also administered several tests including the MMPI-II. According to Dr. Hutson, the results of this test were indicative of schizophrenia, not malingering. Dr. Hutson, who had evaluated over 10,000 individuals, described the defendant as one of the three most disturbed criminal defendants he had seen in his career. Dr. Hutson opined that the defendant suffers from schizophrenia, undifferentiated-disorganized type, and that because of this severe mental illness, the defendant could not appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct in shooting the victims. According to Dr. Hutson, the defendant believed he was working for the government as an agent or an enforcer when he shot the victims. Dr. Hutson also opined that the defendant has a "pathological fear" that he is homosexual and that it would have been "extraordinarily dangerous, at that time, if you were a man" to have touched the defendant.
On cross-examination, Dr. Hutson admitted that the defendant expressed hatred for Turner Carpenter, whom he shot on Sunday, April 6, 1997, because Carpenter was effeminate and touched him. The defendant also told Dr. Hutson that he would have continued killing, had he not been "caught" because he hated them. Dr. Hutson
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