Brain scans for most notorious killers?
April 29th 2011 01:40
U.S. Supreme Court case changes legal landscape
TAMPA - Demarcus Sears, sentenced to death in Georgia 18 years ago, won a new trial after the U.S. Supreme Court found his lawyers failed to document brain damage Sears suffered as a child. It's important evidence a brain scan could have detected, if Sears' attorney had ordered one.
Tampa defense attorney Eddie Suarez says the Sears case changed everything. "Before we, as a society, take the life of a human being, we really have got to make sure that we have explored all of the reasons for the behavior and make sure that is the appropriate sentence, because once its done you can't undo it."
FOX 13 News has learned among the local cases affected are Richard McTear, charged with the murder of an ex-girlfriend's baby by throwing him out a moving car on the interstate, accused cop-killer Humberto Delgado, and accused mass murderer Edward Covington. He’s charged with killing his live-in girlfriend and her two children on Mother's Day.
All three, we've learned from court records, have been ordered to Tampa General Hospital for brain scans at the request of the public defender.
It’s a move supported by legal experts like attorney Stephen Crawford. "Brain mapping can show that the defendant's brain is not working normally, and therefore there was no ability for them to actually intend to do a particular act."
But psychiatrist Dr. Walter Afield isn't so sure about the testing. "If somebody has a bona fide head injury, there's real evidence of a tumor, not thinking well, or a concussion, and they're confused when they committed the crime, yes, it’s appropriate to work that up. But three high-profile killers -- bang, all of a sudden? Someone’s trying to cover themselves."
Experts we talked to say, in the end, the cost of the tests probably are far less than the cost of a whole new sentencing phase or trial.
"The Public Defender's Office has no choice but to explore this," Suarez said.
Medical and sheriff's sources say the tests and security costs come to about $5,000 per exam. A retrial or resentencing could cost ten times that, according to court officials.
We may never know the test results even though taxpayers are footing the bill. It’s up to the public defender to decide whether to use them in court, at which point they'd become public.
Brain scans for Hillsborough’s most notorious accused killers: MyFoxTAMPABAY.com
| 30 |
| Vote |
Add To: 
subscribe to this blog
