Minassian not psychotic, psychiatrist testifies
Court told accused falls short of being deemed not criminally responsible
A renowned forensic psychiatrist testified Thursday that in his opinion, Alek Minassian does not meet the test to be found not criminally responsible for running down pedestrians in a rented van, killing 10 people and injuring 16.
Dr. John Bradford, who was retained by the defence to assess Minassian, said there may be a “hypothetical pathway” to a not criminally responsible finding available to Minassian based on his autism spectrum disorder alone — something that would be a legal first in Canada. But, based on Bradford’s own admittedly limited expertise with autism spectrum disorder, he doesn’t think it is viable because the symptoms of the disorder do not appear to deprive a person of an operating mind.
“My personal opinion is that, I accept that autism spectrum disorder, including high-functioning autism spectrum disorder, is a significant mental disorder. I don’t believe it reaches the impact that psychosis does,” Bradford said.
“To get to the type of impact on the operating mind that I’m used to, you need to be psychotic. So I can’t get my head around how this would impact on a person’s operating mind to the person that would get them into Section 16,” he said, referring to the section of the Criminal Code that lays out the criteria for being found not criminally responsible.
Minassian, 28, has pleaded not guilty to 10 counts of first-degree murder and 16 counts of attempted murder. He has admitted to planning the violent
rampage on Yonge Street on April 23, 2018, and that he intended to kill as many people as possible.
Bradford, who has been practising forensic psychiatry for 40 years and has examined some of Canada’s most notorious killers, conducted a lengthy assessment of Minassian at the behest of the defence in 2018. He also recommended other forensic psychiatrists to the defence with more expertise in autism spectrum disorder. One of them was Dr. Alexander Westphal, a Yale professor who has opined that while Minassian was not in a psychotic state and there was no evidence he was having delusions or hallucinations, his “autistic thinking” was “severely distorted similar to psychosis.” Westphal has not yet testified. Bradford told the court that he thoroughly assessed Minassian for evidence of psychosis or delusions in his history and around April 2018 and found
none. He explained the vast majority of not criminally responsible findings arise from cases where a person is in a psychotic state and is having a delusion, a fixed belief that cannot be changed even when presented with evidence to the contrary, or is hallucinating.
The “hyper-focus” on narrow interests which Minassian displayed in his fascination with mass killings, and with killer Elliot Rodger in particular, falls into the realm of “overvalued ideas” which are false, sustained beliefs that are much less intense than delusions, he said.
Bradford did say that Minassian’s “narrow, repetitive interest” in Rodger and Rodger’s manifesto could affect his moral reasoning but, given his limited expertise in autism spectrum disorder, could not judge to what degree or how it could impact the legal test. The defence is arguing that Minassian is not criminally responsible
because his autism spectrum disorder rendered him incapable of understanding the moral wrongfulness of his actions, though he knew “intellectually” they were wrong.
Bradford also said he did not have the expertise to give an opinion on how Minassian’s lack of empathy could have affected his moral reasoning or his capacity to understand how his victims would feel.
“It’s on some kind of continuum and where on the continuum that severity is, I’m not exactly sure,” he said.
Minassian’s words come across as not having any empathy, Bradford said.
Bradford spoke to Minassian 17 times in a Hamilton hospital and once in jail. During those interviews Minassian expressed that he knew killing was immoral and that the general public would find his actions “morally terrible.” He told Bradford that he “felt good” about what he’d done.
He told Bradford that he lied in his police interview about his incel-related motivations, and instead claimed he carried out the killings for notoriety. Minassian had a fascination with mass killers since high school but in the year or so preceding the attack “hitched a ride” with Rodger because he thought it would lead to the most infamy, Bradford concluded. He also noted that Minassian said he identified with Rodger in some ways, including loneliness and an inability to have a girlfriend. Minassian also puzzlingly claimed to be motivated by anxiety about his job, Bradford said.
Research has raised questions as to whether people with autism spectrum disorder are more vulnerable to “online influence” or “online indoctrination” by mass killers, but not much is known about this area, Bradford said.
Crown prosecutor John Rinaldi suggested it is unclear when Minassian is lying about his motivations, and Bradford agreed though he said Minassian appeared “blunt and forthcoming” in their interviews. Minassian told another psychiatrist that he wished during the attack that he was killing more women.
Bradford said based on the assessment done by him and his team Minassian is not a psychopath, which would include being manipulative and showing a “callous lack of empathy,” and does not have narcissistic personality disorder or depression.
Minassian killed eight women and two men: Ji Hun Kim and So He Chung, both 22. Anne Marie D’Amico, 30. Andrea Bradden, 33. Chul Min (Eddie) Kang, 45. Renuka Amarasingha, 45. Dorothy Sewell, 80. Geraldine (Gerry) Brady, 83. Munir Najjar, 85, and Betty Forsyth, 94.
The trial continues Friday.