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State v. Fortin2/3/2004
ait of defendant's troubled life, a life that included physical and emotional abuse by a brother; severe beatings by his father; lack of nurture or support from his family throughout childhood and adolescence; sexual abuse by an adult male when he was a teenager; and a substantial criminal past, ending with the Padilla murder. Defendant also submitted the report of Dr. Maureen R. Santina, a forensic psychologist, who relied on Nardone's "complete psychosocial history." Dr. Santina diagnosed defendant's mental-health disorders, which included drug and alcohol dependence, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, borderline personality disorder, and avoidant personality disorder with mixed narcissistic and antisocial personality.
Nardone's report gave a sweeping review of defendant's prior criminal history. As a juvenile, defendant was adjudicated a delinquent for attempted theft of a motor vehicle in 1978, theft of a motor vehicle by an unlicensed driver in 1980, criminal trespass in 1981, a disorderly persons offense in 1981, and shooting an eighteen-year-old with a BB gun in 1982. With regard to that last offense, defendant reported that he was "tired of being pushed around" and wanted to "scar" the young man by shooting him. As an adult, he was convicted of criminal mischief and possession of a machete for an unlawful purpose in 1991. For the machete offense, defendant was sentenced to prison for three years. His parole was later revoked in 1992 for failure to refrain from using drugs. He was arrested on a charge of possession of controlled dangerous substances in 1993, which was later dismissed. In 1994, defendant was arrested on counts of criminal trespass, burglary, and criminal mischief.
In addition to noting defendant's assault on his girlfriend, Dawn Archer, on the night of the murder, Nardone's report is replete with descriptions of defendant's drug and alcohol abuse, his failures at keeping a job, and his inability to adjust positively to probation and counseling.
The only convictions missing from Nardone's report were defendant's 1983 theft and manslaughter convictions and his 1995 sexual assault conviction. Defense counsel had "eliminated" the April 3, 1995, sexual assault of Trooper Gardner from Nardone's report by instructing Nardone to cut off her analysis of defendant's social history at Padilla's 1994 murder, and counsel redacted from Nardone's report reference to defendant's 1983 second-degree manslaughter conviction.
The State held in reserve for rebuttal Dr. Michael Welner, a psychiatrist, who prepared a forty-nine page report in which he considered defendant's entire criminal record along with information that painted a starkly different picture of defendant's formative years than the one that appeared in Nardone's report. Dr. Welner was prepared to testify about the "normal," "close," and "caring" family that defendant had described to him, the omitted convictions, and evidence that "raise the serious likelihood that" defendant was not the victim of sexual abuse in his adolescence as depicted in Nardone's report. Dr. Welner also was dismissive of Dr. Santina's diagnoses of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, borderline personality disorder, and avoidant personality disorder. He found that defendant suffered from alcohol and drug dependence, sexual sadism, and antisocial personality disorder. Moreover, he concluded that defendant met the criteria for the diagnosis of psychopathy, which, in part, is evidenced by a "selfish and parasitic exploitation" of others. In short, Dr. Welner's rebuttal was aimed at attacking the accuracy and reliability of the defense experts' reports and at providing an alternate picture of defendant's background and men
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