By Helen Greenia
RIVERSIDE, CA – A defense attorney claimed that a prosecution psychologist did an incomplete evaluation of a murder suspect in an ongoing jury trial Tuesday in Riverside County Superior Court House 2H for Raul Alcantar Sanchez, Jr., who allegedly killed 34-year-old Carolina Vargas in November 2012.
In the last hearing, Deputy District Attorney Anne-Marie Lofthouse and Deputy Public Defender Kimberly Allee, questioned Sanchez’s psychiatrist, Dr. Patricia Kirkish about the mental condition of Sanchez. He has experienced auditory hallucinations in the past, and it was argued if he was undergoing this psychosis at the time of the murder.
In Tuesday’s hearing, PD Allee explained that only two testimonies were taken in this phase, Dr. Smith Clark and Dr. Bosch.
Allee said, “The two witnesses that have testified in this phase are Dr. Smith Clark and Dr. Bosch. They are the only two witnesses that have stated relations. You are evaluating this prong determining between Dr. Smith Clark and Dr. Bosch.”
Public Defender Allee supported Dr. Smith Clark’s testimony, noting Clark “has been heavily criticized for both phases, and part of that criticism is that she supposedly did not take into consideration the prior incident that had occurred between Mr. Sanchez and Ms. Vargas. I submit to you that is not actually correct.”
She explains Dr. Smith testified as to her opinion of Sanchez’s disease process: the psychosis, the delusions, and the auditory hallucinations had been ongoing for a period of time and “they were targeted at a specific individual, Ms. Vargas. Dr. Smith Clark considers these experiences to be part of Sanchez’s mental illness and disease process.”
On the other hand, PD Allee argues that Dr. Bosch did not provide a complete evaluation of Sanchez and his auditory hallucinations.
“In evaluating the testimony of Dr. Bosch, I would ask you to consider that in the prior phase when you heard three of the doctors were all court appointed and were receiving phone calls, emails, and documents to review from the attorneys.
“Dr. Bosch was the only privately retained doctor by the district attorney’s office and testified to that. I wasn’t able to call her, talk to her, or provide her documents, and she testified to that too,” added the defense attorney.
In addition to Dr. Bosch’s lack of review of attorney’s information about the case, she also failed to finish reading through the documents, said PD Alle, noting “Dr. Bosch…did not have all of the discovery at the time of her evaluation. She had 800 pages out of the 1590 when she testified.”
Deputy Public Defender Allee said Dr. Bosch claimed how important it is for her to be impartial during the prosecution, otherwise she would lose her reputation.
“Yet, she is the only doctor who did not ask Mr. Sanchez about the voices he was hearing that day, Nov. 21 2012, and did not ask about the voices previously. The other doctors told you how important it is when a patient reveals that they are hearing voices, that you determine what the content is,” Allee argued, charging Dr. Bosch made an incomplete evaluation of Sanchez and his auditory hallucinations.
The next court hearing will be Oct. 27.
Note: the following article links are related to Sanchez’s pretrial and jury trial.
‘I Don’t Recall’ Was Initial Response of Accused’s Father in Murder Trial
