By Helen Shamamyan and Steph Lopez
OAKLAND, CA – A trial proceeded Friday here in Alameda County Superior Court for a man with untreated psychological disorders, serving time at Coalinga State Hospital for two felony counts of rape.
The jury will decide on the accused’s eligibility for release after hearing testimony from four psychologists about the man’s severely declining mental health and low risk of sexual recidivism, and frustrations with the legal system.
With no recent evidence of sexual misconduct, a mental disorder “agitated” by the prison system, and low-risk assessments of re-offense determined by the Personality Assessment Inventory, Deputy Public Defender Erik Glen Babcock argued for his client’s release from a Sexually Violent Predator facility.
The accused was charged in 2014 with rape of an incompetent individual and forcible rape; he has been serving his sentence in an SVP Unit while suffering from a category of delusional disorder known as persecutory type delusional disorder, as determined by the evaluation of expert witness, Dr. Brian Abbot.
Dr. Abbot is a forensic psychologist who has worked with evaluating and treating sexual predators for more than 45 years, and written 12 peer-reviewed publications on the subject and testified in court approximately 270 times in 10 different jurisdictions.
He was called by “conflicting counsel” to evaluate the accused’s current mental state, compiling research from “3,366 pages” of prison/probation records, as well as clinical and medical records provided by hospitals and doctors who treated the accused.
During the examination of the expert witness, DPD Babcock inquired about the evaluation techniques, findings, and professional opinion of the expert on the risk and treatability of the accused.
Dr. Abbot pointed out that the accused was arrested nine years after the offense, and records showing symptoms of the delusional disorder correspond with the conviction of the accused in 2014, noting incarceration may have been a factor in the accused’s deteriorating mental health.
Specifically, of four expert witnesses who were psychologists, Dr. Abbot was the only one to have administered a PAI (personality assessment inventory) test, citing it is a highly reliable method to gauge any comparative characteristics of individuals suspected of mental health disorders.
The accused was “off the charts” with characteristics of delusional disorder, according to Dr. Abbot’s evaluation of the test results.
Dr. Abbot added “for every five years that a sexual offender is out in the community without re-committing,” the probability of recidivism goes down by 50 percent, noting the accused was outside custody for nine years before his arrest and conviction.
The expert notes that, though the persecutory type delusional disorder is difficult to treat due to the compulsive paranoia of the accused, it does not mean that the accused’s emotional state predisposes the accused to sexual violence.
Abbot added that, in spite of the accused’s erotic delusions and use of “coarse sexual language,” there is no record of the accused ever having acted on the delusions while being treated at Coalinga State Hospital, even with daily interactions with predominantly female staff.
Based on the various examinations by clinical psychologists, the findings of the PAI test, and no records that indicate inappropriate behavior by the accused at the hospital, the expert said, hypothetically, by definition of the law, the accused is “not likely” to re-offend and that the accused should not be considered a substantial danger because his mental health disorder does predispose him to commit sexually violent acts.
The trial is ongoing.
